RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



In the Minister's Accounts of Christopher 

 Mansell for the year 27-8 Henry VIII," the 

 demesne lands of Coverham were valued at 

 ;^I3 19;. lod. ; they included a close called 



* Cristecrosse ' and a water-mill. The temporali- 

 ties, which were derived from lands in a number 

 of parishes, mostly in Richmondshire or the 

 neighbourhood, realized j^8i fj. jd., while the 

 spiritualities, comprising the rectories of Cover- 

 ham (;^26), of Sedbergh(j^so), of Downholme 

 {£•/ 16s. 8d.) of Kettlewell (^10 9;. 4a'.), and 

 Seaham (;^I4 13J. 4(5?.), reached ;^io8 191. ^.d. 



There were reprises, j^6 to the chaplain of 

 Redmire, 100s. to the chaplain of Thoralby, and 

 the same to the chaplains of Downholme and 

 Coverham, the latter being also styled parish 

 curate. It is said that nothing was paid to the 

 chaplain celebrating in the chapel of St. Botolph, 

 called Horsehouse, beyond 35. ^.d. paid by the 

 inhabitants of Coverdale of the 26s. Sd. annually 

 due, according to the agreement between them 

 and the abbot and convent, because the Prior of 

 Coverham had paid it. 



Drs. Layton and Legh ^' recorded that the 

 abbot and convent had the iron girdle {cingulum) 

 of Marie Nevell offered to women in child-bed, 

 and that the abbot Christopher Rokesby was 



* vehemently suspected ' of incontinence. 



Abbots of Coverham 



Philip, occurs 1202^' 



Conan, occurs 1222-31 ^^ 



John, occurs 1252 ^^ 



William, occurs 1262'* 



Nicholas, occurs 1287 '^ 



John, occurs 1300,^ also 1307 '' 



Bernard, occurs circa 1320^^ 



William de Aldeburg, confirmed 1331 " 



Gilbert, occurs between 1345 and 1348^* 



Robert, occurs 1351 ^' 



EHas, occurs 1 3 7 1 ^^ 



John, occurs 1406,*"" 1414,*^ 1415*^ 



"Mins. Accts. Yorks. 27-8 Hen. VIII, 119, m. 5. 



'^i. and P. Hen. Fill, x, p. 137. 



^Torks. Fines, John (Surt. See), 72. 



'° Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 34. 



"Ibid. '^Ibid. "Ibid. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Corbridge, slip betw. fol. 

 59 and fol. 60. '* Baildon's MS. Notes. 



'* Occurs in a notice dated ' apud Sanctam Agatham 

 die Lune in crastino Sancti Bartholomei ' in conjunc- 

 tion with John, Abbot of Newhouse, and Thomas, 

 Abbot of Egglestone, recording the election of Nigel 

 de Ireby as Abbot of Easby, in succession to Abbot 

 Philip, resigned, but no year is mentioned. York 

 Archiepis. Reg. Melton, fol. 445^. 



"Ibid. fol. 452. 



^Cal. Pat. 1345-8, p. 453. 



"Assize R. 1 129, m. 17. 



" Baildon, Mon. Notes, i, 34. 



*' Cott. MS. Nero, D. iii, fol. 52. 



" Baildon, loc. cit. "Ibid. 



Cuthbert de Rydemer, confirmed 21 May 

 1414,^' occurs 1426 and 1430" 



Gauden, occurs 1435," 1437" 



John Bromfeld or Brownflete, confirmed 

 1470,^' resigned 1488 



John Askogh, confirmed 1488^' 



Thomas Sides, confirmed 1511 ^' 



Christopher Salley, confirmed 1519°" 



Christopher Halton, confirmed 1521 '' 



Christopher Rokesby, 1528 °^ 



61. THE ABBEY OF ST. AGATHA, 

 EASBY 



The abbey of St. Agatha, Easby, was founded 

 by Roald, Constable of Richmond Castle, in 

 1152.^ Another generous benefactor was 

 Thorphin son of Robert de Burgo, whose 

 daughters, Maud and Agnes, gave the churches 

 of Manfield and Warcop (Westmorland).^ 



In the year 1284 a complaint was made by 

 John de Hellebeck and John de Bellerby that 

 the abbot, John, and his fellow canons had 

 deprived them of the use of a mill at Bolton-on- 

 Swale. The abbot claimed an annual rental of 

 2 J. from the mill, which he had as a gift from 

 Robert de Hellebeck. The jury found that the 

 abbot's servants had stripped off the iron and 

 other instruments of the mill, so rendering it 

 useless. The verdict was given against the 

 abbot, and the damages were assessed at loj.** 

 On 28 September 1294 the abbot, with the 

 heads of a number of other religious houses, 

 received a grant of protection for one year, which 

 was renewed on 10 December 1295, the grant 

 being made to these persons because they had 

 given a tenth to the king.' 



" York Archiepis. Reg. Bowett, fol. 30^. 



*^rorks. D. (Yorks. Arch. Rec), 141. 



*' Baildon, loc. cit. 



*" Baildon's MS. Notes. 



" York Archiepis. Reg. G. Nevill, fol. 1 2 1 . 



"Ibid. Rotherham, i, fol. 58. 



"Ibid. Bainbridge, fol. 21. 



'"Ibid. WoIsey,fol. 42^. 



" Ibid. fol. 543. 



"Dugdale, op. cit. vi, 920. (On 6 Apr. 1586,3 

 witness in a lawsuit, whose memory extended for sixty 

 years, mentioned two abbots, Horseman and Raper, 

 of Coverham, as within his recollection. It would 

 seem that those names were probably aliases for 

 Halton and Rokesby, respectively. Other witnesses 

 mentioned Abbot Horseman. — Exch. Dep. East. 28 

 Eliz. no. 3.) 



' Dugdale, Mon. Angl. vi, 927 ; Easby Chartulary, 

 Egerton MS. 2827, fol. 2. 



' Egerton MS. 2827, fol. 2-6. Warcop Church 

 seems to have been transferred to the Premonstraten- 

 sian abbey of Shap in Westmorland. Valor Eccl. 

 (Rec. Com.), v, 293-4. 



'^ Speight, Romantic Richmondshire, 108. 



' Pat. 24 Edw. I, m. 21-2. 



245 



