RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Denton was of opinion that the abbey ' was 

 not perfected till Thomas de Multon finished 

 the works and established a greater convent 

 of monks there.' In 1361 Bishop Welton 

 issued a licence with indulgence to a monk of 

 that house to collect alms in his diocese for 

 the fabric of the monastery. 1 



It cannot be said that Calder was ever a 

 rich house. In 1292 its temporalities were 

 valued at 32 a year, 2 and in 1535 the gross 

 revenues of the abbey amounted only to 

 64 35. gd.y which, after deducting certain 

 outgoings, was reduced to the clear annual 

 income of 50 9*. 3<-/. 3 



The abbots of Calder do not often appear 

 in the public life of the country. They occa- 

 sionally come into notice when applying for 

 royal protection to go beyond the sea on the 

 business of their house or to attend the general 

 chapters of the Cistercian Order. 4 In the 

 fourteenth century they were sometimes em- 

 ployed in the collection of ecclesiastical sub- 

 sidies. 8 



The abbey was visited by the king's com- 

 missioners 8 in 1535 and an unfavourable report 

 was made in the Black Book. Five monks, 

 Robert Maneste, William Car, John Gis- 

 burne, Matthew Ponsonby, and Richard 

 Preston were accused of uncleanness ; Wil- 

 liam Thornton and Richard Preston of incon- 

 tinency ; and John Gisburne and Richard 

 Preston were said to desire freedom from their 

 conventual vows. The only relic of super- 

 stition found in the monastery was a girdle 

 of the Blessed Virgin supposed to be effica- 

 cious to women in child-bed. 7 



The monastery seems to have been sur- 

 rendered to the commissioners and dissolved 

 on 4 February 1536, Richard Ponsonby, the 

 abbot, receiving a pension of 12 a year 

 which was to date from the Feast of the 

 Annunciation following. William Blithman 

 was the actual agent in its overthrow. The 

 rectories of St. Bridgid, St. John, St. Leonard, 

 and Gilcrux were leased to William Leigh, 

 but the house and site of the abbey and the 

 adjoining lands were granted to Thomas 



Carl. Epis. Reg., Welton, f. 8 1. 



> Pope Nich, Tax. (Rec. Com.), 329^ 



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



4 Pat. 1 6 Edw. I. m. 6 ; 20 Edw. I. m. 7. 



& Ibid. 14 Edw. III. pt. ii. m. 45 ; 15 Edw. 

 III. pt. i. m. 32 ; Close, 6 Edw. III. m. l6d. 



Harl. MS. 604, f. 122. 



' The Compendium Compertorium or 'Cleane 

 Booke of Compertes,' as arranged by John ap Rice, 

 otherwise called the ' Black Book,' is well known. 

 Fragments of it will be found in L. and P. Hen. 

 Vlll. x. 364 ; Cott. MS. Cleop., E, iv. 147 ; 

 Lansd. MS. 988, f. I. 



Leigh, LL.D., the notorious commissioner for 

 the northern suppression. To Dr. Leigh 

 were also given a right of common on Coup- 

 land Fells and the fishery called Monkegarth 

 on the sea sands near Ravenglass. 8 The clear 

 annual value of the doctor's grant was 

 ji3 IOJ. 4^., and the rent of 2Js. id. due to 

 the Crown continued to be paid by the owners 

 of Calder Abbey till its late owner redeemed it. 



ABBOTS OF CALDER 



Gerold, 1134, afterwards abbot of By- 

 land, Yorks 



Hardred (Hardreus), circa 1143' 



Adam, towards the close of the twelfth 

 century 10 



David, circa 1200 n 



John, circa 1211 12 



G., circa 1218 13 



Ralf 14 



Jollan, 1241-6" 



John, 1246" 



Nicholas, circa 1250" 



Walter, circa I256 18 



William, circa 1262 19 



Warin, circa 1286 20 



L. and P. Hen. Vlll. vol. xii. (i.), 1025 ; vol. 

 xiii. (i.), 577, 588. The grant to Dr. Leigh has 

 been enrolled on Pat. 30 Hen. VIII. pt. vi. m. 20, 

 of which an abstract has been made in the L. 

 and P. Hen. Vlll. vol. xiii. (i.), 1519 (71). 



Duchy of Lane. Chart. Box B, No. 262. 



10 He was contemporary with Prior Robert of 

 St. Bees and witnessed Richard de Lucy's charter 

 of incorporation to the borough of Egremont 

 (Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. Sac. i. 282-4). 



11 Duchy of Lane. Chart. Box B, No. 80, printed 

 in Farrer's Lane. Pipe R. and Early Chart. 362. 

 He was a witness to this charter. 



12 An unnamed abbot of Calder received bene- 

 diction from Ralf, Bishop of Down, in 1 2 1 1 

 (Chron. of Me/rose, in anno ; Chrtm. de Lanercost, 

 2), and about the same time John, abbot of Calder, 

 witnessed several charters (Duchy of Lane. Chart. 

 Box B, Nos. 164, 260 ; Reg. of Fountains abbey 

 [Cott. MS. Tib. C, xii.], ff. 104-11). 



13 With Augustin, prior of Conishead, he wit- 

 nessed a deed in the Reg. of St. Bees (Harl. MS. 

 434). vij. 5. 



14 Dugdale, Mm. v. 340. Professed obedience 

 to Archbishop Walter Gray (1216-55). 



16 Between these dates he was engaged in suits 

 at la w with John le Fleming, Al exander de Ponsonby, 

 and John, prior of Conishead, about the property 

 of the abbey (Feet of F. Cumberland, case 35, 

 file 3, Nos. 263, 34, 54b). 



18 J. Denton, Cumberland, 23. 



17 Duchy of Lane. Chart. Box B, No. 187. 



18 Reg. of St. Bees, MS. xii. i ; Denton, Cum- 

 berland, 23. 



19 Dugdale, Man. v. 341. 



Trans. Cumb. and Westmld. Arch. Sac. ix. 232. 



II 



177 



