A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



which was served by one of the canons.''' 

 These estates were managed by eleven bailiffs 

 and the stewards of Hutton and Westhoughton, 

 in addition to the abbey steward, a post occupied 

 by Thomas Stanley, Lord Monteagle, a receiver 

 and a court steward.'^ The rent-roll of the 

 house in 1535 was estimated at £14^$ 5^- I Isl- 

 and the total annual value of its temporalities at 

 £182 8s. S^d.'^ From spiritualities a revenue of 

 \ £4.$ i6j. 8d. accrued. The expenses were 

 £jO I IS. ^.d.y leaving a net income of 

 ,^157 14J. o^d.^^ But the commissioners of 

 1536 must have thought this estimate unduly 

 low, for they raised it far higher than in the case 

 of any other monastery they visited.'^ They 

 put the net income at ;^282 "js. y^d. The 

 indebtedness of the house was ;f 108 91. 8d. Its 

 bells and lead were worth ;f 126 1 3/. ^.d. and its 

 movable goods ^^217 5^. jd.''^ 



In common with the other English houses of 

 the order Cockersand was subject to visitation by 

 the abbot-general of Prdmontr^ or his commissary, 

 and until the beginning of the fourteenth century 

 its abbots were required to attend the annual 

 general chapter held at the mother house and to 

 pay their share of any tax imposed for the benefit 

 of the order in general and Prdmontr^ in par- 

 ticular." It was placed in the northern of the 

 three circuits {circariae) into which the English 



"Add. MS. 32104, fol. 246 ; Duchy of Lane. 

 Great Coucher, i, fol. 63, No. 27. For the chantry 

 in the abbey church and two beds in the poor 

 infirmary which were established for the souls of 

 members of the Beetham family between 1235 and 

 1249, see Chartul. 1013. Rather earlier land in 

 Kellet was given *ad ospicium infirmorum sustentan- 

 dum ' ; ibid. 906. 



" Duchy of Lane. Rentals and Surv. ptfo. c 

 No. 2. 



'^ Valor Eccl. v, 261. In 1292 they had been 

 assessed at only ^24, and this was reduced after the 

 Scottish ravages to £\ ; Pope Nich. Tax. 308. In 

 the levy made for Premontr6 in 1470 Cockersand 

 paid £-i 5/., practically the same rate as Croxton, and 

 higher than any other house of the northern circuit 

 save St. Agatha (^3 5/.), and Alnwick (^3 los.). Its 

 contribution in 1487 was the highest in the northern 

 circuit and identical with that of Croxton, Welbeck, 

 Newhouse, and Barlings ; Coll. Angh-Premonstr. i, 77, 

 157. For a decision in 1292 that all the lands of 

 the abbey except Pilling and 2 carucates in New- 

 sham were geldable, see Plac. de ^0 Warranto (Rec. 

 Com.), 379. 



'^ In 1 5 27 it had been roughly estimated at ^^200 ; 

 Duchy of Lane. Rentals and Surv. ptfo. 5, No. 15. 



'* Hutton manor, whose rental is stated at ^^20 in 

 I53S> ^35 farmed from the crown a few years later at 

 ;^3o ; the clear value of Mitton rectory, put at 

 £^6 1 6s. 8d. in the Valor, was afterwards said to be 

 £3Sy and Garstang rectory, which figures for ^^^ 19 in 

 1535, was leased in 1539 at a rent of ^^40 ; Duchy 

 of Lane. Mins. Accts. 



" Ibid. Rentals and Surv. ptfo. 5, No. 4. 

 " Coll. Jnglt-Premonsir. In trod. 



158 



abbeys were divided for purposes of visitation and 

 taxation.'' The Statute of Carlisle, however, in 

 1307 forbade the payment of tallages to foreign 

 houses,'' and the English abbots demanded relief 

 from the burden of annual attendance at 

 Premontr^,'' and its abbot's yearly visitations of 

 their province. After a lengthy dispute, which 

 was carried to Rome, Abbot Adam de Crecy in 

 13 1 5 absolved the abbots from personal atten- 

 dance at the general chapter, consented to reduce 

 the burden of visitation and to limit the calls for 

 contributions to necessary collections approved 

 by their representatives at the chapter.*" Hence- 

 forth the abbot of Pr6montr6 seems to have 

 executed his visitorial powers at longer intervals 

 through a commissary who was one of the abbots 

 themselves. 



In 1496 Bishop Redman, abbot of Shap, who 

 was then the abbot's visitor, informed the abbot 

 of Cockersand that he intended to visit his 

 monastery, arriving on 3 April if the tide served. 

 He asked that someone should be sent to Lan- 

 caster the day before to provide lodgings for him 

 and safe conduct inter maris pericula to the 

 abbey.*' The visitor of 1506 spent a night at 

 Kendal at the expense of Cockersand, and his 

 visitation lasted two days.*^ 



More frequent visitations were made by the 

 local visitors in each circuit.*' The abbot was 

 expected to attend the provincial chapters of the 

 order, which were usually held in some town in 

 the Midlands.*^ 



Abbots of Cockersand 



Hugh (Garth) the Hermit,*' said to have been 

 Master of the Hospital before 1 184 



Henry,*' occurs as prior before and in 11 90 



Th[.?omas],*' occurs as 'Abbas de Marisco* 

 between 1 1 94 and 1 1 99 



Roger,** occurs as ' Abbas de Marisco,' and in 

 1 205-6 as ' abbas de Kokersand ' 



" Ibid. 



" Stat, of the Realm, i, 150-1 ; Rot. Pari, i, 217. 



" For royal licences to abbots of Cockersand to go 

 to the chapter in 1290 and 13 17 see Cal.ofPat. 

 1281-92, pp. 381, 384, and Cal. Close, 1213-18 • 

 p. 04. 



*• Coll. Anglo-Premonstr. The statute was not always 

 enforced. Cockersand was rated to levies for Prdmon- 

 tre in 1470 and 1487 ; ibid, i, 77, 157. 



*' Ibid. 247. 



'Mbid. 193. ssjbid. 



^ e.g. ibid. 126, 140, 148. 



^ Chartul. X, xxi, 758. He is not actually called 

 master in any contemporary document. 



** Ibid, xi, xxi, 2. 



^.l ^"""-J'f' R-3Z9-, Duchy of Lane, class xxvi, 

 bdle. 30, No. 5. 



Jl ^•^- ?^"^- ^^^''- 5^' ■' ' 5 ^"'- of Lane. Ch. 

 (Chet. Soe.), 385. Ly tham Chart, in Durham Cathe- 

 dral treasury, 4a, 2ae, 436, Ebor. 4. 



