RELIGIOUS HOUSES 



During the next two centuries, especially in 

 the thirteenth, the abbey strengthened and ex- 

 tended the position gained by these grants. 

 Small gifts enlarged their holding in the town- 

 ships about Beaumont Grange."' The pasture 

 allowed by the Gernets in Halton led to much 

 litigation.^" The origin of Beaumont Grange is 

 curious. Warin the Little, whom Stephen 

 had granted with his land, retired with his 

 wife to the abbey in his old age, leaving to the 

 monks half a plough-land in Stapelton Terne. 

 This was converted into a grange. The story 

 runs that King John saw, on a sojourn, ' that 

 the grange was too small and poor,' and gave the 

 whole vill of Stapelton Terne. The monks then 

 transferred the men of the vill to the grange, and 

 thus made one large colony.^'* In 1221 the 

 rights of Furness in Stackhouse, which had 

 been granted by Adam the son of Maldred 

 in the previous century (before 1168), were 

 upheld."^ 



In 1250 Alicia of Staveley granted for ;^6oo a 

 vast pasture in Souterscales on the fells of Whern- 

 side and Ingleborough. The monks tried to seize 

 the neighbouring pasture of Ingleton, which 

 covered 1,000 acres, and though William of 

 Twyselton successfully maintained his rights, he 

 surrendered them in 13 16."* Alicia's grant 

 was quite near the great pasture of Selside and 

 Birkwith, which was said to comprise 5,000 

 acres. In 1256 John of Cancefeld quitclaimed 

 500 acres in Selside. Around the grange of 

 Winterburn the abbey collected several plough- 

 lands, often oxgang by oxgang. In Hetton, for 

 example, it held two and a half plough-lands.^'' 

 In Eshton the abbey possessed more than a 

 plough-land.^'* It had burgages in Lancaster, 

 York, and Boston, with the rents of some houses 

 in Beverley.^'' 



In Copeland the lords of Millom added largely 

 to the privileges of the abbey.''" In Furness 

 proper the monks had in 1292 eleven granges, 

 and had got into their own hands a great deal of 

 their vassals' land, including the manors of Bolton 

 and Elliscales, and the pasture and turbary of 



'" Coucher B. fol. 32-59 and many of the 

 ancient deeds. Adam son of Orm de Kellet gives a 

 cultura ' ad sustentacionem infirmitorii saecularis ' 

 (fol. 46). 



'" Ibid. fol. 60-3 ; Lanes. Inq. \, 178. 



'" Coucher B. fol. 64 ; Lanes. Pipe R. 133, and 

 Lanes. Inq. i, 84-6. It seems possible that the vill 

 was an earlier grant of Henry II. For abbey lands 

 in neighbourhood cf. also Surv. of Lonsdale Wapentake 

 (Chet. Soc), 66, 74 ; and for Ellel and Forton see 

 Coucher B. fol. 86-9. 



'" Ibid. fol. 115, sqq. 



"" Ibid. fol. 1 19-21 ; Anct. D., L. 240. 



'" Coucher B. fol. 141-85 ; Surtees Soe. Publ. 

 xlix, 190, 193. 



'''Coucher B. fol. 181, &c. 



'" Ibid. fol. 76-8, 190, 201. 



'«> Ibid. fol. 205-11 ; Anct. D., L. 458-60. 



Angerton Moss."' The relations with Ulverston 

 demand more than a passing word. As William 

 of Lancaster III died without male heirs the 

 manor was divided and ultimately came to 

 William's illegitimate brother Roger, as two 

 distinct halves. These became definitely separate 

 in the families of Harrington and Coucy.'*^ It 

 is perhaps characteristic that the abbey shows a 

 tendency to claim the service of 30^. from both.'*^ 

 The Harringtons kept their hold with only the 

 ordinary experience.'** But on the death of 

 William de Coucy without issue in 1343 the 

 king entered. William left a brother Enguer- 

 rand, but it was asserted that he was a French 

 subject. It was probably at this time that the 

 abbey first began to take possession on behalf of 

 the king.'*' In 1348, however, Edward included 

 this half of the manor in his large grant to John 

 of Copeland and his wife. Abbot Alexander 

 protested,'*' and finally received the reversion 

 for forty marks. An inquest of 1376 upheld 

 this, but in the next reign, when Enguerrand's 

 descendant was a niece of the king and wife of 

 the powerful Duke of Ireland, the abbey's hold 

 became precarious. Another inquest found the 

 abbot had been guilty of false allegation, and it 

 was only after a long suit that the estate was 

 retained.'*' 



There is no doubt that from the first the two 

 chief churches in Furness, Dalton and Urswick, 

 were included in the spiritual possessions of the 

 abbey.'** In 1195 Celestine III confirmed its 

 rights of appropriation and presentation, and a 

 few years later it was recognized that the heirs 

 of Michael le Fleming had no hereditary claim 

 to the advowson of Urswick. The chapel of 

 Hawkshead, which belonged to Dalton, was held 

 separately by the monks. It was claimed as a 

 chapel of Ulverston by the priory of Conishead, 

 but the claim was surrendered in 1208, when 

 Furness in return for certain annual payments 



'" For the grant of Bolton by Alan of Copeland 

 see Coucher, 515-36 (27 Edw. I). Elliscales was 

 finally granted in 8 Ric. II, Coucher, 286. The 

 grant of Angerton Moss at end of thirteenth century 

 is very complicated, Coucher, 326 sqq. 



'" Coucher, 1-7, 482. 



'»' Ibid. 368, 396, 386, 388. 



'"Ibid. 381-91. 



"' In the survey of 1 346 it is said to hold half 

 Ulverston by castleward for one twelfth part of a 

 knight's fee ; Chet. Soe. Publ. Ixxiv, 77. 



"° Duchy of Lane. Assize R. class xxv, 2, No. 250 ; 

 3, No. 154 (1352-4)- 



'" Coucher, 368-77, 396-406; Inq. p.m. 2 1 Ric. II, 

 No. 75. 



'^ Coucher, 643, 657-60. For the vicars of 

 Dalton see ibid. 699-702 ; Anct. D., L. 397. The 

 relation of Michael le Fleming to Urswick is puzzling, 

 but it is certain that the church belonged to the abbey 

 {Coucher, 455 ; and charter of Henry Fitz Hervey 

 on behalf of his ward, 452. Henry Fitz Hervey 

 became guardian of Michael's heir in 1202-3 > Lanes. 

 Pipe R. 180). 



127 



