HOUSE OF GRANDIMONTINES
45. THE PRIORY OF GROSMONT
About 1200 Joan Fossard, wife of Robert
de Torneham, gave to the prior and brothers of
the order of Grandmont (fn. 1) a mansion in the forest
of Egton, arid land which was to extend along
the River Esk for 7 'quarantans,' and towards
the hill for 3½ 'quarantans,' measured by a rod
of 20 ft. The brothers were to have 200 acres
of land round their house, with the. woods, and
timber for building and other requirements, and
a toft at Sandsend. This charter was confirmed by her husband, who made an additional
gift of land, and both charters were confirmed
by King John in the fifteenth year of his reign
(1213-14). (fn. 2)
On 13 April 1228 (fn. 3) Archbishop Gray confirmed to the prior and brothers of the order
of Grandmont the grant of the advowson of the
church of Lockington, made by Robert de Torneham and Joan his wife, daughter of William
Fossard, and afterwards by Peter de Mauley and
Isabella his wife, with licence of the pope.
Peter de Mauley III, grandson of the forenamed, in 1294 (fn. 4) made a new grant of the mill,
&c. of Egton, to Roger de Creswell, corrector
of the order of Grandmont in Eskdale, and the
brothers of the same place belonging to the
English nation, imposing an obligation that they
were to have two more chaplains who were to
celebrate daily in their church of St. Mary, for
his and his wife's and other of his relations' and
ancestors' souls, and yearly to commemorate his
father and mother and Nicholaa his wife.
Burton (fn. 5) states that the house was peopled
from an 'abbey' in Normandy, but does not
give any authority for the statement, and
although possibly the first brethren came from
a Grandimontine priory in Normandy, it seems
that in 1294 the brothers were Englishmen,
and the fact that the head, who bore the
designation of 'corrector,' (fn. 6) was Roger de
Gresswell (or of Cresswell) looks as if the
brothers had, perhaps, at that time come from
the cell at Craswall, in Herefordshire, which,
like that of Grosmont, was originally dependent on one of the Grandimontine houses in
Normandy. In 1394-5 the Abbot of Grandmont obtained licence from Richard II to sell
the advowson and property of the priory of
Eskdale (as it was called) to John Hewit alias
Serjeant, and thereupon, says Burton, (fn. 7) it seems
to have become a prioratus indigena.
There is a good deal of obscurity attached to
the Grandimontine order, founded in 1076
by St. Stephen de Muret, and its rules and
customs. Their houses in Normandy and
Anjou were richly endowed by the English
kings. The members of the order wore the
black cassock with a large scapular. St. Stephen
denied that his religious were monks, canons, or
hermits. Mabillon ranks them as Benedictines,
others among Augustinians. Hélyot denies both
assertions. (fn. 8)
The house at Grosmont seems, from the
manner in which the members are spoken of, to
have continued to belong to the order, and
though indigenous would probably be in connexion with the abbey of Grandmont, much as
the Cistercians were with their head house
abroad. After the suppression of the two other
alien priories of the order at Adderbury and
Craswall, Grosmont would be the only Grandimontine house in England, and it is a matter for
regret that nothing is known as to its subsequent
history or internal affairs.
On 24 February 1387 (fn. 9) Pope Urban VI
directed the Abbot of Whitby to make inquiry
concerning the action of the Prior and convent
of 'Gramont' in Eskdale of the order of
'Grandemont' in the diocese of York. The
pope had heard that they and their predecessors
had made alienations of their properties and
rights to the grave injury of the house. The
abbot was to see that any such alienations thus
unlawfully made were revoked.
In 1527 (fn. 10) the clear annual value of the
priory of Grosmont was returned at £14.
According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus
(fn. 11) the gross
value was then only £14 2s. 2d., and the clear
annual value £12 2s. 8d.
At the time of the suppression the house was
described as 'Prioratus sive domus fratrum vocatorum Boni Homines, beate Marie de Grande
Monte.' (fn. 12) Five names are given: Brothers James
Egton (aged 68), Lawrence Birde (50), William
Semer (36), Edmund Skelton (36), Robert
Holland (31).
There is a note, 'Md. to remember Sir
William Knagges, sometyme a fryer in the seid
house of Gromont, to help hym to some yerely
pension or lyvynge for his cosyn his sake, att
Beacham.' Mention is also made of Sir John
Banks, late prior eighteen years past. (fn. 13) The
entire charges upon the monastery are given
as alms bestowed for the founders four times a
year, viz. on Good Friday, Easter Even, the
vigil of Pentecost, and on Christmas Eve,
26s. 8d. a year; also given to the poor on the
four principal obits of the founders annually to
the value of 13s. 4d. (fn. 14)
At the inquiry as to the payment of
pensions in 1553, (fn. 15) the commissioners stated,
as to Grosmont, that James Ableson, whose
pension was £4, 'did not appear.' Edmund
Skelton, pension 66s. 8d., and Robert Holland,
with the same pension, appeared. No such
name as 'Ableson' appears in the list of
members of the house, and the probable explanation is that James Egton, whose name
heads the list of brothers in the first list, is the
same person as James Ableson named in the
second. (fn. 16)
Priors of Grosmont
Roger, occurs 1287 (fn. 17) (prior)
Roger de Cresswell, occurs 1294 (corrector) (fn. 18)
William Whitby, occurs 1469 (fn. 19)
John Banks, circa 1518 (fn. 20)
James Egton, alias Ableson, occurs 1536 (fn. 21)