INTRODUCTION 



but the great ruined abbey at the mouth of it 

 was known as Abbey Dor or Douro, and it is 

 then between the abbey and Moat that the 

 road was to be kept up. Immediately after 

 the Reformation, John Scudamore, of Kent 

 Church, had interposed to stop the work of 

 desecration and spoliation of the abbey, and 

 turned part of it into an Anglican place of 

 worship, and I suppose it is to him alone we 

 owe the partial preservation of it all honour 

 to his name ! 



From 1584 to 1600 Rowland was involved 

 in one lawsuit after another. They are 

 extremely dull lawsuits, their only interest 

 being -that they show what large possessions 

 Rowland had acquired, either by inheritance, 

 money-lending, or purchase. The suit in 

 1584 is against one Dame Anne Gresham, 

 with regard to some property which Rowland 

 owns by right of his wife, who inherited from 

 her brother William, who died childless in 

 1582. 



Then in 1596 is one against James Parry 

 of Poston, who seeks to " redeem tithes 

 within the townships of Poterchurch, Hynton, 

 Taylorshope, Wilbroke, Leynalls, and Wylaw- 

 stone, in the parish of Peterchurch, which he 



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