A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



in Bootle, and a place in Millom called 

 ' Barkerhals ' containing gj acres of land and 

 i J acres of meadow. 1 



The abbey had also been endowed by John 

 son of Adam and Matthew his brother with 

 the whole land of ' Stavenerge ' ; by Robert 

 Bonekill, with a carucate in Little Gilcrux 

 (Gillecruz) which Ralf the clerk of Carlisle 

 occupied, 1 2 acres and i perch in Little Gilcrux, 

 I acre of meadow between these two places 

 and pasture for twenty oxen, twelve cows and 

 six horses with their following of one year ; 

 by Roger son of William with land in ' Ike- 

 linton ' and ' Brachamton ' and part of the 

 mill in the latter place ; by Richard de Lucy, 

 with a moiety of the mill in Ikelinton a ; by 

 Thomas son of Gospatric, with a toft in 

 Workington, an annual gift of twenty salmon, 

 and a net in the Derwent between the bridge 

 and the sea ; and by Thomas de Multon, 

 with a moiety of the vill of ' Dereham in 

 Airedale ' with the advowson of the church 

 of the same vill. These donations were con- 

 firmed to the monks in 1231 by charter 3 of 

 Henry III. 



The convent was called upon from time to 

 time to defend its title to its possessions. 

 Adam son of Gilbert de Comwyntyn im- 

 pleaded the abbot in 1279 ' n res P ect f a 

 messuage in Cockermouth as the right of 

 Emma his wife.* Certain manorial privileges 

 of the abbey lands were questioned by the 

 Crown in 1292, when it was stated that the 

 monks had enjoyed them since the reign of 

 Richard I. From this suit at law we gather 

 that the house possessed 3 carucates of land 

 in Gilcrux, a carucate in Dearham, an 

 oxgang in Millom, 10 acres in Irton and 2 

 oxgangs in Bootle. 8 



The abbey was not rich in appropriated 

 churches. At the time of the dissolution, 

 the monks only possessed the rectories of 

 Cleator, Gilcrux, and of St. John and St. 



1 Pat. 28 Edw. I. m. 13 ; Inq. p.m. 20 Edw. 

 I. No. 172. 



2 Roger de Lucy held 1 5 librates of land in 

 Ickleton (Ikelington) in the hundred of Whittles- 

 ford, Cambridgeshire, late of the Honor of Bou- 

 logne, and Richard de Lucy held a knight's fee 

 there in 1212 (The Red Book of the Exch. [Rolls 

 Ser.], ii. 529, 582 ; Testa de Nevill [Rec. Com.], 

 274b). In 1302-3 the abbot of Calder was 

 assessed at lot. to the royal aid for the fourth part 

 of a knight's fee held of Thomas de Multon as of 

 the Honour of Boulogne (Feud. Aids, i. 144, 161, 

 175, 180). 



a Chart. R. 1 5 Hen. III. m. 9 ; Dugdale, 

 Mm. v. 340-1. 



4 Three Early Assize R. of Northumb. (Surtees 

 Soc.), p. 297. 



o Plac. de >uo. Wan. (Rec. Com.), 1 16-7. 



Bridgid, Beckermet. 6 An attempt was made 

 by Thomas de Multon to transfer the advow- 

 son of Dearham from the priory of Gisburn, 

 to which Alice de Romelly had given it, but 

 the attempt failed, and the church con- 

 tinued in the appropriation of the Yorkshire 

 house to the last. 7 In 1262 the Archdeacon 

 of Richmond prevailed on the abbey to bestow 

 upon him the church of Arlecdon (Arloke- 

 dene), as he had no convenient retreat in 

 Coupland wherein he could lodge for the 

 exercise of the duties of his vocation. 8 That 

 powerful official had only a poor opinion of 

 the natural features or the climate of Cum- 

 berland. It needed the attraction of the 

 church of Arlecdon to induce him to cross 

 the sands of Duddon and to brave the swollen 

 rivers and uncertain weather of that outlying 

 portion of his spiritual charge. 8 An arrange- 

 ment was made apparently to the advantage 

 of the abbot as well as the archdeacon. The 

 church of Arlecdon had been a trouble to the 

 abbey, inasmuch as the abbot had paid a fine 

 of 40*. in 1255 for having an assize of last 

 presentation against Richard son of John le 

 Fleming. 10 The church of St. John lay near 

 to Calder and to the parish church of St. 

 Bridgid which already belonged to the monks. 

 By judgment of the Archbishop of York, St. 

 John's was appropriated to the abbey in 

 consideration for the abbot's consent to the 

 appropriation of Arlecdon to the archdeaconry 

 of Richmond. It is stated by J. Denton u 

 that John le Fleming had given the patronage 

 of the rectory of Arlecdon to Jollan, abbot of 

 Calder, in 1242. The abbot and convent 

 proved their title to the church of Gilcrux in 

 1357 before Bishop Welton of Carlisle. 1 * 



Little on record has been found about the 

 history of the abbey church or precincts. J. 



Valor Eccl. (Rec. Com.), v. 264. 



7 Dugdale, Man. v. 340-1, No. i. ; vi. 271, 

 No. xv. 



9 Ibid. v. 341, Nos. ii. and iii. 



8 By all accounts the climate of Cumberland 

 was considered a distressing experience by outsiders. 

 In this year, 1262, a justice itinerant prayed to be 

 excused going on circuit, ' in partes Cumber- 

 landiae . . . turn propter loci distantiam, turn 

 propter distemperantiam asris meae complexioni 

 valde discordantem ' (Royal and Hist. Letters, [ed. 

 Shirley], ii. 222). 



10 Fine R. 39 Hen. III. m. 10 (Excerfta E. 

 Rot. Fin. [Rec. Com.], ii. 203). 



11 Cumberland, 27. Denton must have had in 

 mind the plea between the parties in 1241 when 

 the right of Calder was confirmed and the benefits 

 of the prayers of the monastery were granted to 

 John le Fleming (Feet of F. Cumberland, case 35, 

 file 3, No. 263). 



12 Carl. Epis. Reg., Welton, 51. 



I 7 6 



