A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



Rotherham.*^ A second reference to this pen- 

 sion shows that it was in reality a grant by the 

 Crown out of the ;^20 paid by the abbey.*' 



The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 gives the 

 gross income of the abbey as ^^254 6s. Sd. and 

 the clear annual value as £1"]^ lis. 6d. The 

 temporalities were spread over a large area, viz. 

 at Ompton, Babworth, Besthorpe, Bothamsall, 

 Boughton, Coddington, Eakring, East Retford, 

 Holme, Kelham, Kersall, Kirklington, Kirton, 

 Littleborough, Maplebeck, Nottingham, Ruf- 

 ford, Southwell, Staythorpe, Walesby, Warsop, 

 Welham, Willoughby, and Winkburn, Notts. ; 

 Abney, Brampton, Brackenfield, Chesterfield, 

 Palterton, and Shirebrook, Derbyshire ; Alk- 

 borough and Barton upon Humber, Lincoln- 

 shire ; and Rotherham {£j6 ly. iid. clear) and 

 Penistone, Yorkshire. The only spirituality was 

 the rectory of Rotherham, of the annual value of 

 £^6j 13J. 4^.; but from this there were very 

 large deductions, the heaviest of which was a 

 pension oi £^T,(i 13^. /^d. to the dean and canons 

 of Windsor, bringing it down to the net income 

 of ;^23 6 J. 8^. 



The monks had at this time granges at Kirk- 

 ton, at Parkleys in Kelham parish, at Babworth, 

 at Foxholes, at Roewood in Winkburn parish, 

 at Maplebeck, and at Abney in Derbyshire.** 



The abbey was visited in 1536 by those 

 notorious royal commissioners, Legh and Lay- 

 ton, who reported that there were six monks 

 guilty of disgraceful offences, and the abbot had 

 been incontinent with two married and four 

 single women. They further stated that six of 

 the monks desired exemption from their vows. 

 Under the head of Superstitio it is recorded that 

 the abbey claimed to possess some of the Virgin's 

 milk. The annual value was declared to be 

 ^loo and the debts /20." 



Abbot Doncaster obtained a pension on the 

 dissolution of the house among the lesser monas- 

 teries, of £2$ a year ; but it was voided on his 

 speedy appointment to the rectory of Rotherham 

 on 2 July 1536.** It is therefore absolutely 

 impossible to believe that any attention was 

 given to the slander of Legh and Layton. 



George, Earl of Shrewsbury, in October 1537 

 obtained a grant in fee of the site, &c. of the 

 late abbey, with all the lordships, manors, mes- 

 suages, &c. in the counties of Nottingham, 

 York, and Derby, whereof Thomas Doncaster, 

 the late abbot, was seised in right of his monas- 

 tery.*' 



There is a sulphur cast of a fine impression in 



" Pat. 2 Edw. IV, pt. ii, m. i. 



" Pat. 4 Edw. IV, pt. i, m. 1 6. The second half 

 of this j^20 v?as soon afterwards granted to another of 

 the king's courtiers. 



" Valor Ecd. (Rec. Com.), v, 17 1-3. 



« L. and P. Hen. Fill, x, 364. 



" Aug. Off. Bks. ccxxxii, 1 9^. 



" Pat. 29 Hen. VIII, pt. i, m. 10. 



the British Museum of a 13th-century seal of an 

 Abbot of Rufford. The abbot stands on a plat- 

 form, with pastoral staff in the right hand and 

 book in the left. Legend : — 



-1- SIGILLUM : ABBATIS : RUFFORDIE** 



Another abbot's seal, c. 1260-70, bears an 

 eagle rising : — 



+ AVE MARIA GRACI** 



A third abbot's seal, of the year 1349, bears 

 the Virgin and Child, with an abbot kneeling, 

 holding up a flowering branch : — 



-|- MATER DEI MISERERE MEI 



60 



A counterseal of the year 1323, bearing a 

 dexter hand and vested arm holding a pastoral 

 staff ; in the field, on the left a crescent, on the 

 right a star. 



SIGILL RUDFOIRD 



Abbots of Rufford 



Philip de Kyme, temp. Stephen" 



Edward, occurs 1203 " 



Geoffrey, occurs temp. John, 12 18, &c." 



Thomas" 



Simon, occurs 1232 '° 



G , occurs 1239°' 



Geoffrey, occurs 1252'° 



William, occurs 1259'' 



Henry, 1278 «'" 



Thomas de Stayngreve, occurs 1283'* 



Henry, occurs 1288" 



Henry de Tring, occurs 1315 °^ 



Elias, occurs 1332 ^' 



Robert de Mapelbek, 1352 " 



Thomas, 1366*'' 



John de Harlesay, 1372 °' 



" B.M. Seal Casts, Ixx, 55. 



" Harl. Chart. 83, C. 46. 



'" Ibid. 48. " Ibid. 47. 



" Dugdale, Mon. v, 126. Witness to a Pontefract 

 charter ; probably first abbot. 



"Harl. MS. 1063, fol. 28. 



" Ibid. fol. 19,20, 23^. 



"Ibid. fol. 71. " Ibid. fol. 26. 



" Ibid. fol. 863. <* Ibid. fol. 72. 



" Harl. Chart. 112, F. 38. 



^ At the general chapter in 1 278 the Abbots of 

 Cogshall and Jervaulx, who had been appointed to 

 inquire into the recent election of an abbot at Ruf- 

 ford, reported that Henry, a monk of that house, had 

 been duly elected, but had been unduly rejected. 

 The chapter ordered that Henry should be accepted 

 as abbot. Martene, Thesaurus, iv, 1458. 



«" Chart. R. 1 1 Edw. I, m. 6. 



" Pat. 16 Edw. I, m. 10. 



"Harl. MS. 6972, fol. 11. 



^ Harl. Chart. 112, F. 42. 



" Harl. MS. 6971, fol. 161. 



« Ibid. 6972, fol. 20 » Ibid. 



104 



