RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



Thither certain brothers were dispatched, who 

 built some humble offices, and according to the 

 ■custom of the order imposed a new name on the 

 place, calling it Mount St. Mary's {Mons Sancte 

 Marie). Henry Lacy, however, was not the 

 chief lord of the grant he had given, which he 

 held of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, by a yearly 

 payment which had lapsed for many years, and 

 about which Lacy had said nothing to the 

 Abbot of Fountains. At a later period this led 

 to trouble, and the temporary dispossession of 

 the monks. 



Alexander, Prior of Fountains, was chosen 

 abbot of the new convent, and on i8 May 1 147 

 he left Fountains for Barnoldswick with twelve 

 monks and ten conversi to colonize the fifth abbey, 

 in order of time, peopled from Fountains, the 

 abbot of which became in consequence its pater 

 abbas. 



The church of Barnoldswick was an ancient 

 church, having four parochial villages {villas 

 parochiales) dependent on it, and two hamlets. 

 The parishioners were accustomed to attend the 

 church on feast days with their priest and clerks, 

 and this disturbed the quiet of the monks. So 

 the abbot pulled down the church in spite of the 

 remonstrances of the parishioners. A sharp 

 contention, not unnaturally, arose, and the par- 

 ishioners took their case to the papal court, where 

 the pope in person decided for the monks and 

 against the parishioners. Afterwards the abbey 

 was moved and a new parochial church erected 

 on a fresh site, else it is not impossible that a 

 decision less obviously unfair to the parishioners 

 might have been given. 



The monastery at Barnoldswick suffered very 

 much from the forays of robbers, probably Scots, 

 and also from the climate. Barnoldswick was cold 

 and bleak and the ' importunity of the clouds,' 

 as the writer describes it, almost every year 

 spoilt the monastic crops. For more than six 

 years the monks existed in great poverty, and 

 Abbot Alexander began to look about for another 

 place to which the monastery could be transferred. 

 It so happened, the chronicler relates, that when 

 on a journey on the business of the house, he 

 passed through a well-wooded and shady valley 

 called Airedale, he found, on a level place in it, 

 certain hermits. Charmed with the place, he 

 asked their manner of life, to what order they 

 belonged, whence they came, and who had given 

 them the place. One of the hermits, Seleth by 

 name, who appeared to be their master, told the 

 abbot that he was a native of the south of England, 

 and thata voice had sounded to him in sleep, saying, 

 * Arise, Seleth, and go to the province of York, 

 and seek diligently in the vale called Airedale 

 for a certain place called Kirkstall, for there shalt 

 thou make ready a future habitation for the 

 brethren who serve my son.' Asking who this 

 son might be, the answer was, ' I am Mary, and 

 ray son is Jesus of Nazareth the Saviour of the 



world.* Seleth, placing his hope in God, had 

 set forth from his home, and not without diffi- 

 culty had reached the spot where the abbot 

 found him. From shepherds who kept their 

 flocks there he had at first obtained the place. 

 For many days he was alone, feeding on roots 

 and vegetables, and depending on the alms which 

 Christian charity brought him. Afterwards other 

 brothers joined him, having for rule a common 

 life, according to the order of the brothers of 

 Leruth, owning no property, but seeking food 

 and clothing by the work of their hands. 



The abbot recognized the suitability of the 

 place for the construction of the abbey, and not 

 without a little guile, as he took his leave of the 

 hermits, began to warn them as to the health 

 and safety of their souls, pointing out the danger 

 of following their own will, their fewness in 

 number, disciples without a master, laymen with- 

 out a priest, persuading them to a better rule of 

 religion. Then he went direct to Henry Lacy, 

 and pointed out the poverty of the monks, and 

 that he had found a place more particularly 

 suitable, the lord of the soil being a certain 

 knight, William of Poictou. The abbot calling 

 together the hermits, some joined the community 

 and others accepted a money compensation for 

 their right. William of Poictou, at the instance 

 of Lacy, granted the monks the place which had 

 belonged to the hermits, and on 20 May 1 1 52 

 the monks moved from Barnoldswick to the 

 new site. They secured possession of certain 

 land on the south up to the slope of the hill, and 

 having cut down the wood, cultivated the soil, 

 and made it fruitful. Henry de Lacy greatly 

 helped them with provisions and money. With 

 his own hand he laid the foundation of the church 

 and completed it at his own cost. 



When the monks left Barnoldswick that place 

 was reduced to the status of a grange. It has 

 been already mentioned that Henry de Lacy held 

 it of Hugh Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, and that the 

 annual fee of 5 marks and a hawk had not been 

 paid for many years. Hugh Bigod, however, 

 as the overlord of Henry de Lacy substantiated 

 his claim to Barnoldswick in the king's court 

 and dispossessed the monks. Later, however, 

 Henry II prevailed on the earl to give the grange 

 (for the redemption of his sins) in pure and per- 

 petual alms. 



The first abbot, Alexander, ruled the house 

 for thirty-five years, and during his time the 

 church and other buildings were built and roofed. 

 He was a true abbot, in deed and in name, the 

 chronicler records, and in a good old age was 

 gathered to his fathers. 



In 1 1 56 Pope Adrian IV (Nicholas Brake- 

 spear) confirmed the church and all their pos- 

 sessions to the monks, and took them under his 

 protection.'' Henry II also granted them a con- 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 536, no. xiv. 



143 



