A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



gave up its rights to the churches of Ulverston 

 and Pennington, which were asserted to be 

 daughter churches of Urswick.*'* In the reign 

 (if Henry II, William son of Roger gave to the 

 abbey the advowson of Kirkby Ireleth. It is 

 uncertain if the tithes were appropriated ; if so, 

 they were soon lost, since in 1228 Archbishop 

 Gray retained the church and advowson.^'" About 

 the end of the century William son of Hugh 

 gave to the abbey the church of Millom. The 

 archbishop took half of this church also, and the 

 right of appointing vicars to both halves. In 

 1 24 1 he appropriated the revenues to his chantry 

 in the chapel of St. Michael the Archangel in 

 York Minister ; and later the abbey got back 

 the half on condition of maintaining the chaplain 

 of this chantry.'" In 1299 Bishop Mark 

 granted to Furness the appropriation or the 

 churches of St. Michael and St. Maughold in the 

 Isle of Man."^ In the diocese of Dublin the 

 abbot for some time held the prebend of Swords,"' 

 and the convent also had a contingent interest in 

 a Lancaster chantry.'" 



From the above account it will be obvious 

 that Furness Abbey was very wealthy. Not 

 many monastic houses in the north could 

 pay ;{^6oo for a sheep-walk, or 500 marks for a 

 charter. But with the exception of two great 

 records there is little evidence from which to 

 estimate the total revenues of the house. The 

 occasional references to subsidies are misleading, 

 for geographical as well as for more general 

 reasons.'" Its total assessment for tenths about 

 1300 was rather lower than that of Whalley 

 Abbey, but included a much larger proportion 

 of temporals.''^ In the new valuation of 131 7, 



'" Gaucher, 646, 650. Both the parson of Ulverston 

 and Conishead Priory gave up claim to Hawkshead ; 

 Lanes. Pipe R. 362. Early in the thirteenth century 

 it was severed from Dalton except for secular purposes ; 

 Coucher, 649. See also above p. 22 note. 



'" Coucher, 318, 653 ; Lanes. Final Concords, 52-3, 

 where the abbey claimed that Abbot John Cancefield 

 had been seised of the church as of his fee, and had 

 presented Roger, his clerk. 



'" Coucher B. fol. 207; Coucher 653, 671 ; Thos. 

 of Burton, Chronica de Melsa (Rolls Ser.), ii, 126. 

 The abbey got back the half on condition of paying 

 the expenses of the chaplain (34 marks) as a perpetual 

 fcrm. On the plea of war and pestilence it sought to 

 reduce this, and a long suit ensued, which was taken 

 even to Rome, and was settled by the chapter of York 

 in 1362 {Coucher, 672-9). The rent was reduced to 

 28 marks, which was paid in the sixteenth century 

 {Valor EccL v, 270 ; Page, York. Chant. Surv. ii, 434). 



'" Duchy of Lanes. Anct. D., L.S. 112. 



'"At first (1339) it was held at farm (Pat. 13 

 Edw.III,pt.i,m.35. "* Raines, Lanes. Chant. 222. 



'" In the 'courtesy' of 1277 Furness contributed 

 ^38 y. ^d. and Waverley ^^262 10/. ; Pat. 5 Edw. I, 

 m. 10, 15. In 1347 the abbey lent ^^40, as did 

 Peterborough and Westminster ; Pat. 2 1 Edw. lU, 

 pt. 2, m. 23. 



"* The respective totals were roughly ^197 and 



128 



made after the Scottish raids, the temporalities 

 were charged on the basis of 20 marks only. 

 The Taxatio had fixed the annual value at £1 76, 

 but as the monks kept much of their property 

 in their own hands, this was not all realized. 

 According to detailed returns of this year (1292) 

 which are preserved in the Coucher the annual 

 income was £^0 141. id. This included, 

 besides rentals, the proceeds of live-stock, pleas, 

 and, most important, of mines. When all ex- 

 penses had been met this last source gave 

 £6 13J. ^d. Lonsdale, including the Beaumont 

 Grange, and Borrowdale sent the largest revenues 

 from cattle. Since the fisheries, turbaries, dove- 

 cotes, and two or three vaccaries were reserved 

 for the monks' use, these are not estimated. In 

 131 7 the assessment of spiritualities was reduced 

 from j^2i ds. 8d. to £6.^^^ Two documents 

 preserved in the Coucher give the proportionate 

 payments of the Cistercian abbeys to certain con- 

 tributions. Furness, Rievaulx, and Fountains 

 agreed to pay the same to provincial aids,"' 

 nearly one-third of the aids in all. To a Cister- 

 cian contribution of ^^ 12,000 Furness is to pay 

 ^^44 6s. Sd. ; Fountains ;^66 i6s. ; Stanley 

 ^68 12/."' For the time of the Dissolution we 

 have three documents, the official Valor of 1535, 

 the rental of Roger upon which this is based, 

 and the survey of the commissioners of 1536. 

 The survey gives of course a greater value, since 

 there was nothing to reserve for private use ; the 

 difference between Roger's rental and the Valor 

 is almost entirely on the debit side, due to the 

 gifts to great men. Roger accounted for close 

 on ;^95o, and disbursed about ;^300 annually. 

 Beck estimates that the possessions in the 

 immediate occupation of the monks yielded 

 ;^I04 1 5 J. Sd.^ 



The monastic officers, except the master of 

 the fells,^' call for no remark. Of the lay 

 officers the rentals give a fairly complete list. 



^'' Pope Nich. Tax. 308-9; Coucher, 633-7. At 

 Dalton and Millom the reduction amounted to three- 

 fourths, at Urswick to about two-thirds. 



"'* Ibid. 637-8 ; e.g. 20/. each to an aid oi £\o. 



'" Ibid. 639 (no date). 



""" Valor Eccl. v, 269-70 ; Rentals & Surv. ptfo. 9, 

 No. 73 ; and R. 376 ; also Beck, op. cit. 325-34 

 and App. vi. Roger's rental amounts to exactly 

 £,<)^% I IS. jd., with deductions of j^300 is. ^d., of 

 which about ;^ioo were incidental. The Valor gives 

 j^203 4f. gd. to this head. The net estimate of the 

 commissioners (Rentals and Surv.) was ^^ 1,0 5 2 zs. ^^d. 

 The rentals give such an excellent picture of the 

 economy of Furness that one can only refer the reader 

 to Beck's reprint and comments. An independent 

 rental of certain lands and tenements belonging to 

 the late monastery in Lonsdale, in the possession of 

 Mr. W. H. Dalton, of Thurnham, gives for these 

 lands j^llz 4/. 6^d. The places are not exactly the 

 same as in the rental, which gives £110 18/. ild. 

 (e.g. Beaumont is included in the former). 



"" L. and P. Hen. Vlll, xii (l), 841. 



