HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS
7. THE ABBEY OF STANLEY
In 1151 the Empress Maud and her chamberlain, Drogo, gave to the Cistercian monks of
Quarr in the Isle of Wight 'a singular and romantic spring on the summit of a hill in Pewsham
forest', to be the site of a 'chief abbey'. (fn. 1) This was
at Loxwell, a name which survives in Loxwell
Farm in Pewsham, a little to the west of the
Chippenham-Devizes road. Between 1151 and
1154 Henry, Duke of Normandy, the future
Henry II, confirmed Hugh de Plugenet's gift to
'St. Mary of Drownfont' of a hide of land in
Lambourn (Berks.), and added gifts of his own in
the forest. (fn. 2) As king he gave the important estate of
Worth, including Wadley, Littleworth, Thrupp,
and Wicklesham, a member of his manor of
Faringdon (Berks.), part of the royal demesne
which Stephen had granted to Thame Abbey
(Oxon.), (fn. 3) as well as £5 a year in alms. (fn. 4) The name
'Drownfont' was derived from Drogo's fount or
spring. The compilers of the 'Red Book of the
Exchequer', a few years after the community was
founded, referred to it as 'the monks of Drogo's
fountain', or 'the grey monks of Worde'; a later
clerk noted in the margin 'now Stanley in Wiltshire'. (fn. 5) Jocelin de Bohun, Bishop of Salisbury
(1142-84) used the name Drogo's Fountain when
he confirmed a number of gifts. (fn. 6) The sheriffs knew
the brethren for at least 50 years as 'the monks of
Chippenham in Locheswella'. This in spite of the
fact that they only stayed at Loxwell for three
years, moving their home a mile northward in
1154 to Stanley in Bremhill, on the south side of
the wide Marden valley, just within Pewsham
Forest. (fn. 7) But even the name of Stanley proved an
unhappy one, for it was constantly confused with
that of the abbey of Stoneleigh in Warwickshire
throughout its history.
Richard I, an honorary brother of Cîteaux
since 1185, (fn. 8) confirmed the abbey's holdings in
detail on 13 November 1189. (fn. 9) He included the
royal grants of Stanley, Midgehall in Lydiard
Tregoze, 'Helanda by Lacock Bridge', Worth,
Loxwell, 'Hedfeld on both sides of the stream',
dead wood in Chippenham Forest for firing and
for building, pasture and pannage in the forest
beside the Avon, and 3d. daily from the farm of
Chippenham. He added gifts or sales by Hugh de
Plugenet and Patrick, Earl of Salisbury (1153-68), of property in 'Hedfeld' beside Chippenham
Forest, in Upper Lambourn (Berks.), in Chapmanslade and Godswell in Dilton; by Henry
Husee and his son Geoffrey in Stapleford and in
the 'breach' of Southampton; by Hugh Husee,
Henry's brother, in Merecombe in Blagdon
(Som.); by Reynold de Paveley in 'Hulwerc'; by
Hawise, Countess of Roumare, in Feltham in
Pitminster, (Som.); by Thomas de Lanvalaie in
Chapmanslade; by Walter Croc of his quarry of
Hazelbury in Box; by William of Hogland of land
in Penselwood (Som.); (fn. 10) by Roger Burel of a croft
called 'Berlege'; by Simon and Peter of Cocklebury of land and half the mill at Peckingell; by
Nigel of Stanley in 'Hedfeld'; by Richard FitzLuke
of a close at the abbey's fulling mill; by William
FitzRobert, Earl of Gloucester, of quittance of
toll at Bristol; (fn. 11) by Richard FitzMartin of Blagdon church (Som.); by Roger of Calne and others
of property in Calne. The half mill of Peckingell
was the fulling mill in Langley Burrell, and
'Berlege' was near by. After a lawsuit in 1194 the
monks purchased a tenement from Richard FitzLuke, on which the mill-pond seems to have overflowed; (fn. 12) and in 1234-6 they appear to have
bought the lease of the other half and assigned it
to Thomas Burel for 8s. and a 'stick' of eels (or
6d.) a year. (fn. 13)
The charter of 1189 went on to exempt the
monks from geld and danegeld, scutage, the common summons, sheriffs' aids, castle guard, toll and
portage and passage, waste and regard, and pleas
of the forest, and all secular services and exactions.
By another charter of 3 April 1191 Richard
confirmed Ralph FitzStephen's grants of land at
Wapley, Codrington, and Winterbourne (Glos.). (fn. 14)
Celestine III, who had given the abbey protection
and the whole range of Cistercian privileges, added
the approval of the Holy See; (fn. 15) and from 1206 the
king's yearly payment of £8 to FitzStephen in
Wapley was transferred to the abbey. (fn. 16) In April
1194 the abbey bought from the king, for
£26 13s. 4d., the fee farm at £3 10s. a year of
pasture in Langdon and Wyke, in the barton of
Maryborough. (fn. 17) On 10 September 1198 the king
granted lands at Stanley and elsewhere. (fn. 18) John
Wace, probably after 1189, gave land at Broad
Hinton. (fn. 19) In 1200 the monks received a legacy
of £20 from St. Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln; (fn. 20) and
in the following year they bought from Michael
Knoyle all his land at East Knoyle. Two years
later they sold it to the Bishop of Winchester for
£66 13s. 4d. (fn. 21)
Thomas of Calstone, abbot since 1205, bought
a virgate of land in Rowde from Ralph Bluet at
Wilton in 1212, and on the same day his prior,
Robert, agreed at Gillingham with Roger de Cauz
as to common of pasture at Kingsgrove, in Easton
Piercy. (fn. 22) The records of the general chapter reveal
many disputes about this time between Stanley
and other religious houses, in particular with
Beaulieu (Hants) de cursu aquae tamisiae. (fn. 23) The
abbot was in trouble for returning monks sent to
him, presumably by other Cistercian houses. (fn. 24) But
the consolidation of the abbey's estates went slowly
forward. In 1221 the abbot compounded for tithes
at Faringdon and Westbury. (fn. 25) In 1227 Henry III
confirmed the charter of 1198, excepting the right
to take firewood in Chippenham Forest and the
3d. a day from Chippenham, with a grant of
'Alfletemore' or 'La More', the moor on the south
side of the abbey gate, and nineteen gifts or purchases in Wiltshire and Berkshire. (fn. 26)
These recent acquisitions included lands in
Lambourn (Berks.) and in Sutton Mandeville; a
burgage and a messuage in Chippenham, and a
rent in Derriads there; 4 messuages in Calne, (fn. 27)
2 virgates in Ugford in Burcombe, and the mill
there; services from lands in Costow in Wroughton, granted by Walter (III) de Dunstanville; (fn. 28)
4 carucates in Wapley and Codrington (Glos.)
from Gilbert of Finemere, and a virgate in Heywood from William and Geoffrey Burnel; (fn. 29) ½ carucate at Nethermore in Pewsham from Walter
FitzWilliam; 7 virgates at Stanley from Godfrey
of Stanley, at £1 6s. 8d. and a pair of milkingstools (or 1s.) a year; 3¾ acres of meadow in
Avebury and a messuage in Wilton opposite the
abbey gate at a pound of pepper or 6d. a year, and
a virgate in Calstone in Calne at 3s. a year, from
Walter of Calstone; 24 acres of land in Winterbourne (Glos.) from William 'the clerk' of Berwick, and a messuage and 5 acres in the same place
from John of Berwick, for a pair of gloves, or 1d.
a year; (fn. 30) and common of pasture in Blagdon at
6s. 8d. a year. (fn. 31)
In 1212 the abbey had 32 librates of land in
Faringdon, 7 in Midgehall, and 11 hides in the
manor of Lambourn. (fn. 32) Samson Bigot of Box gave
the monks two quarries at Hazelbury, and Sir
Henry Croc land for another quarry. In 1241
they exchanged quarries with Lacock Abbey. (fn. 33)
In the same year they acquired land in Heywood
from Hawise de Paveley and her son, Walter, and
Sir Philip Bassett gave them the manor of Berwick
Bassett. (fn. 34) In 1247 they had from Alexander of
Studley and his son, Roger, 8 acres of meadow in
Studley in Calne, at a pair of gilt spurs a year, in
exchange for a meadow at 6s. 8d. a year; and from
Henry Keynel, 50½ acres of land in Yatton Keynell and pasture for 8 oxen and 100 sheep on his
demesne, at a yearly rent of one pair of white
gloves. (fn. 35) In 1259 Henry Keynel's relict, for a life
rent of 6s. 8d. and 10 quarters of good corn, gave
her dower of one-third of a messuage and of 123
acres of land in Easton and Yatton Keynell; in
1262 his son Robert gave the advowson of Yatton
Keynell and ½ virgate of land there. (fn. 36) Hugh Gargat gave an acre of land in Melksham about 1252, (fn. 37)
and Stephen of Crome a burgage in Marlborough
about 1266. (fn. 38) By his will, dated 1267, Robert de
Careville, Treasurer of Salisbury, left £2 to the
abbey. (fn. 39) Two years later Richard of Highway
demised to it for twelve years all his land in Quidhampton in Wroughton. (fn. 40) An old difficulty seems
to have been resolved about 1270 when Thame
Abbey released to Stanley all its land in the manor
of Wadley (Berks.); but the two houses were
again on bad terms a few years later. (fn. 41)
On a fresh examination of titles in 1276 it was
found that the abbot owed suit of the hundred
court for many years in respect of Costow, and of
Langdon and Wyke in the barton of Marlborough,
and that by blocking the Pewe stream he had
flooded the highway from Chippenham to Calne. (fn. 42)
In 1280, after a long contest with the canons of
St. Augustine's of Bristol, he had leave, which was
probably not exercised, to build a chapel at Codrington for his manor house there. (fn. 43) In 1290 he
had licence to enclose 'La More' as part of Chippenham Forest with a small ditch and a low
hedge; (fn. 44) in 1292, for five years, to dig stone in the
king's quarry in Pewsham Forest for building the
abbey houses and a wall about them; (fn. 45) and in 1294
to dig, smelt, and remove iron ore for two years on
the royal demesne in the forest. (fn. 46) In 1303 the king
gave him 211 acres of waste in Pewsham Forest
at a rent of £3 19s. 1d. with liberty to inclose and
cultivate rather less than half. (fn. 47) The 'Taxation
of Pope Nicholas' of 1291 showed that the abbey
was reasonably endowed, but it is difficult to
reconcile its figures with what is known about the
abbey's revenues, (fn. 48) and the growth of the estates
was drawing to an end. By 1310 the abbey acquired 8 acres at Tytherton in Chippenham from
Roger Bubbe, 8s. 4d. in rent in Little Sherston
(now Pinkney) from Peter of Salthorpe, (fn. 49) and a
release by Nicholas of Nethermore of his rights as
the abbey's tenant in Nethermore in Pewsham. (fn. 50)
After this there seems to have been no further
expansion; the period of prosperity was already
over.
In 1242 Henry III asked the English Cistercians for a subsidy. (fn. 51) He was followed by the Holy
See and the general chapter, who, both concerned
to defend the liberties of the Order against the
English bishops, asked for subsidies. (fn. 52) Thirty years
later, in 1276, Stanley paid £21 6s. 8d. towards a
Cistercian gratuity of £1,000 for the king. Their
contribution was exceeded in the southern province
only by those of Beaulieu and Wardon (Beds.). (fn. 53)
Meanwhile the Crown's control had stiffened. In
1253 the abbot was ordered to keep his bounds and
hedges in Selwood Forest in good order, and in
January 1255 with other abbots he was ordered to
hold his wool until Easter, to satisfy the claims of
Flemish merchants. (fn. 54) Royal commissioners discovered in the same year that by his failure to
appear at a hundred court he had withheld 2s. a
year from the Crown for ten years. (fn. 55)
The Despensers in their days of prosperity
were the neighbours but not the benefactors of
the abbey. Sir Hugh the elder imparked Fasterne
Wood in Wootton Bassett, extinguishing the
monks' right of common; he also added 300 acres
of their wood in Bradon Forest to his park; and,
as heir of the Bassetts, he disseised them of Berwick Bassett Manor. (fn. 56) But the fall of the Despensers proved no less disastrous, for in June 1321
their enemies, the Earl of Hereford and the Mortimers, broke into the abbey, opened Sir Hugh's
coffers, and took away £1,000 in money and the
equivalent in goods. (fn. 57) In 1313 and 1315 the abbot
had been called upon to contribute 100 marks to
the expenses of war, and in 1322 he was ordered to
send his men to Coventry to join the royal forces
against the Earl of Lancaster. (fn. 58) The poverty and
debts of the house between 1317 and 1325 are
revealed by entries in the Chancery rolls, and in
1323 the king appointed Robert de Hungerford
to assist the abbot in managing the temporalities. (fn. 59)
Hungerford was succeeded in 1341 by John de la
Roche, and Gilbert of Berwick was added in
1348, (fn. 60) but the financial difficulties of Stanley
remained. New acknowledgements of debt were
signed in 1351-5. Berwick Bassett had apparently
been recovered after four appeals to Parliament, in
or soon after 1337. (fn. 61) In 1363 the king granted to
the abbey the advowsons of Rye (Suss.), Rowde,
and Wootton Bassett churches, with leave to
appropriate them, and his profits from the Rye
fishing fleet. The appropriation was confirmed by
Boniface IX in 1399. (fn. 62) In 1363 also the monks
sold Wadley and Wicklesham, part of the Berkshire property which Henry II had given them.
They described it as a sterile and unprofitable
possession, but the sale was necessary to pay debts.
The transaction was formally regularized by the
general chapter in 1373. (fn. 63) Eventually Wadley
reverted to the Crown, and in compensation the
king released to Stanley in 1448 £3 19s. 1d. rent
in Pewsham waste, and exempted it from corrodies
and pensions. (fn. 64)
In 1371 the abbey received from the king, in
order to endow prayers for the soul of Queen
Philippa, a farm of 24s. a year payable by William
Putman on property in Berwick Bassett and Burton in Clyffe Pypard, with the reversion, on
Putman's death; (fn. 65) and in 1412-15 the monks
were exempted, on the ground of poverty, from
the payment of clerical tenths. (fn. 66) The last mention
of the abbey's poverty was in 1455, when the
abbot had licence to let Codrington and its ruined
manor house for £11 a year. (fn. 67) The estates had
probably diminished in value, and by this time long
leasing of the abbey's lands had begun; 60-year
terms were granted for property at Chippenham
and elsewhere in 1486; (fn. 68) for a pasture field in Calne
in 1516; and for property at Broad Hinton in
1533. (fn. 69)
The wool which Stanley exported was rated
comparatively low. Forty sacks a year were sent
to Italy about 1275. (fn. 70) Surviving accounts of
granges from the reigns of Edward I, Henry V,
and Henry VIII suggest that the abbey was mainly
engaged in mixed farming for small profits. (fn. 71) The
'home grange' was the source of supplies in kind;
it made many deliveries in 1414-15 'to the lord's
household at Stanley by tally'. (fn. 72) The other granges
in Wiltshire, Somerset, Gloucestershire, and Berkshire were managed at first by lay brothers, ultimately by farmers. Heywood grange was let in
1451 for 20 years on a repairing lease at £3 a year. (fn. 73)
A house in the parish of St. Dunstan's-in-theWest, held in 1291, (fn. 74) was presumably given up
when attendance in Parliament was no longer
required of the abbot; another at Wilton, (fn. 75) useful
for county and forest business, was also given up
before the Dissolution, and others in Chippenham
and Marlborough had offered similar advantages.
In 1528 the abbot, like a lay magnate, had a
receiver-general, Nicholas Aleyn, who collected
the revenues from all the abbey's lands and accounted for their expenditure. During the year
he collected £174 5s. 10d. and paid over to the
abbot £135 13s. 3d. These figures do not include
deliveries in kind to the abbey, but if these still
took place they must have been smaller than in
earlier centuries for a great deal of the demesne
was leased. The revenues which Aleyn collected
amounted to rather less than the estimates of the
house's annual value which were to be made a few
years later. His outgoings included payments to
the two royal corrodians, to Edward Darell and
Henry Longe, knights, stewards of the abbey
lands, to the under-steward, auditors, a councillor,
a customary present of 13s. 4d. to the Sheriff of
Wiltshire, a subscription to the chapter general
of the Order, and an annuity of £10 to John
Aguyllans. (fn. 76) The receiver-general mentioned no
salary for himself, but he farmed the rectory of
Rowde.
The Valor Ecc/esiasticus showed 30 separate
estates in Wiltshire, three in Somerset, and one
each in Gloucestershire, Berkshire, and Sussex, of
a total annual value of £222 19s. 4d. gross, or
£177 0s. 8d. net, £6 13s. 4d. being devoted to
a chantry, £4 in alms to three poor women,
£9 6s. 8d. to two corrodians, and £13 in fees to
the chief steward, Sir Henry Longe, the understeward, auditor, receiver-general, and three
bailiffs. (fn. 77) The county commissioners, less prejudiced than Cromwell's agents, inspected the abbey
in the late summer of 1536 while it was closing
down. (fn. 78) They praised the buildings, and they
spoke well of the nine priests and the novice. They
raised the estimate of net income to £204 3s. 6½d.
with £32 9s. for the demesne and a mill. They
valued the great woods and coppice (269 acres) at
£160, and the movables and stock at £586 4s.; but
the house owed £285 5s. 11d. against £12 13s. 4d.
owing to it. The abbey's estates were quickly
broken up, and the accounts of the king's collectors
provide few figures for comparison with these
valuations. (fn. 79)
The monks of Stanley were English from the
earliest days. Some were of local families: John
Chippenham, ordained sub-deacon in 1399,
Robert Lockswell in 1438, (fn. 80) and Thomas Studley
abbot in 1455. Some came from other parts of
Wiltshire or from Gloucestershire or Somerset:
Thomas Calne, the last abbot, Thomas Ramsbury
in 1410, Richard Lydiard in 1481, (fn. 81) Thomas
Gloster in 1409, John Lydney in 1423, and
Thomas Bathe in 1432. (fn. 82) There seems to be no
evidence of numbers before 1536, when nine
priests and one novice left the confiscated house.
The minimum number allowed by the Order was
twelve in addition to the abbot. The 15th-century
ordination lists for Salisbury and for Bath and
Wells do not suggest a large membership. There
is little or no evidence about the lives and education
of the monks. There was a schoolmaster in residence in 1536. The abbey produced a chronicle
of England down to the year 1270, with some
evidence for domestic history in the mid-thirteenth
century, and also an admirable cartulary, kept up
to date for some centuries. (fn. 83) Of the obedientiaries,
apart from the prior, the under-cellarer and the
warden of the home grange are mentioned in
a document of 1535, the cellarer in 1363, and
the late sub-prior and 'chauntor' in 1538. (fn. 84) Lay
brothers, generally a troublesome element in English Cistercian houses, (fn. 85) are hardly mentioned in
the records of Stanley. Hired servants, of whom
there were eighteen in 1536, probably replaced the
lay brothers in the 14th century. At the Dissolution there were also eighteen 'hinds in divers
granges'. Pensioned royal servants were sent to
Stanley for maintenance in an almost unbroken
succession. Corrodies seem to have begun about
1271, and the promise to stop them in 1448 (fn. 86) was
not observed. Some led to suits in Chancery. The
standard corrody in the 16th century included a
payment of 7 marks a year. It was bought and
sold. (fn. 87) In 1436, for reasons not disclosed, the abbot
and convent granted £10 a year to John Aguyllans and his wife, for their lives, out of the manors
of Berwick and Langdon. (fn. 88)
The abbot was elected by the conventual chapter, in theory from the family of Savigny, and with
the 'counsel and desire' of the 'Father abbot of
Quarr'. (fn. 89) He was blessed by the diocesan bishop,
and professed obedience 'saving his order'. (fn. 90) He
was summoned to the early parliaments until
1322; (fn. 91) in 1311-17 he was summoned five times
to Westminster, York, or Lincoln, and the motives
for attending by deputy are plain. (fn. 92) In 1322 he
was summoned to attend a provincial council in
Lincoln, and in 1324 he was specially commanded
to appear at convocation at St. Paul's, but later
discharged from attendance. (fn. 93) He was until the
end of the 13th century a more or less regular
attendant at the general chapter; in 1190 light
punishments for non-attendance were imposed on
the abbots of Quarr, Stanley, and Ford. (fn. 94)
On 25 October 1200 Abbot Nicholas entertained King John, and in May 1204 he and four
lawful men of Marlborough were the king's view
for feeding 100 poor. (fn. 95) In 1201 he, the Abbot of
Malmesbury, and the Prior of Maiden Bradley
were summoned to show cause why they had sued
in the ecclesiastical courts for tithes of the king's
chamberlain's holding, and it was not until 1205
that the last 50 marks of the fine imposed on
Stanley were remitted. (fn. 96) Meanwhile he obtained
a charter of confirmation in 1203-4. (fn. 97) This same
Abbot Nicholas sent a colony to Ireland without
leave of the general chapter at Cîteaux, and he was
deposed in 1204, but allowed to become Abbot
of Buckfast in the following year. (fn. 98) His prior,
Thomas of Calstone, succeeded him at Stanley.
Abbot Thomas built an aqueduct from Loxwell
to Stanley, (fn. 99) lived through the interdict of 120814, attended the meeting of John and the Cistercian abbots at York in 1210, and apparently
remained on good terms with that king, who
lodged jewels with him, and collected them at
Marlborough in July 1215. (fn. 100) In November 1216
Thomas, or his successor, delivered to Henry III
money and gold and silver articles which Thomas
of Sandford had deposited in the abbey on John's
behalf. (fn. 101) Despite these apparently good relations
the Stanley chronicler set John down as an oppressor of the Church and of the Order. (fn. 102)
Thomas of Calstone was succeeded after a short
interval by Stephen of Lexington, abbot from
1224, or earlier, until 1229. A cadet of good
official family, he had left Oxford for Quarr under
the influence of Edmund Rich, and, when he became abbot, Rich, then Treasurer of Salisbury,
stayed with him at Stanley for months at a
time. (fn. 103) In 1228 he went to Ireland as visitor of
the Cistercian houses there, and purged them
thoroughly. (fn. 104) In May of the same year Gregory
IX instructed him with the bishops of Bath and
Coventry to inquire into the miracles worked by
St. Osmund. (fn. 105) He became Abbot of Savigny (the
mother house of Quarr) in 1229, and of Clairvaux
in 1243. (fn. 106) He was the effective founder of St. Bernard's College in Paris, but in obtaining Innocent
IV's licence he had by-passed the general chapter,
who deposed him in 1255. (fn. 107)
Edward I gave stone in 1280 to build a chamber
in the abbey for his own use, and he occupied it
from 24 to 26 March and from 23 to 24 April
1282. (fn. 108) The Princess Mary, returning from Bristol
to her duties as a nun of Amesbury, came for two
nights in June 1304; (fn. 109) the Bishop of Salisbury on
15 March 1303 (fn. 110) and Edward II for one night
in June 1308. (fn. 111) In 1293-4 the Abbot of Stanley
was custodian of the temporalities of Amesbury
Priory, taken into the king's hands on account of
poverty. (fn. 112) He was asked in 1299, as a courtesy,
to give bream and pike for stocking the royal fishponds at Marlborough Castle. (fn. 113) In 1312 the con
vent established anniversaries of Edward I amongst
others. (fn. 114) In the succeeding centuries little is heard
of the abbey apart from the complaints of poverty
already mentioned.
Stanley Abbey had no patron, although for a
time the Bassetts commanded its loyal interest.
The abbot of the mother house of Quarr was
bound by the rules of the Order to visit at least
once a year. In 1205 an Abbot of Quarr resigned
his office at Stanley, in the presence of his own
father, the Abbot of Savigny; and we have mention of one other visit in 1400. (fn. 115) The general
chapter was the real ordinary under the Pope, but
Stanley's relations with it were severed by the wars
of Edward III and by the Great Schism.
Thomas Calne (or Morley), the last abbot,
received John ap Rice in August 1535, and ap
Rice sent to Cromwell a brief statement of the
incontinence to which the abbot and six or seven
of the monks had confessed. (fn. 116) The abbey was
dissolved in February 1536. The abbot recovered
£13 5s. 8d. for running expenses from Michaelmas 1535. (fn. 117) For himself he obtained a pension of
£24 a year, and in 1537 the suffragan bishopric
of Marlborough. (fn. 118) His monks went to other
houses (especially Beaulieu), which they had to
leave in turn a few years later. (fn. 119) In 1537 the Court
of Augmentations made orders in favour of three
creditors: for a debt of £15 6s. 8d., for a corrody
of 7 marks granted in 1513 to a royal groom, and
for a debt of £66 reduced to £50. (fn. 120) The abbot had
borrowed £100 from the Vicar of Cannings, who
claimed his debt in 1538 but was met with depositions that it had been repaid in full. (fn. 121)
The buildings at Stanley were begun about
1154. (fn. 122) In the next century Richard Poore,
Bishop of Salisbury (1217-28), and Fulk Bassett,
Bishop of London (1244-59), granted indulgences
to help the abbey with its rebuilding, (fn. 123) and in 1222
the king granted stone for the church and wood
for building as well as for the hearth. (fn. 124) The
quarries which were received from Samson Bigot
and Sir Henry Croc contributed, no doubt, to the
same purpose. In 1247 the monks entered their
new house; two bishops issued indulgences in their
favour. In 1266 the king gave a tun of wine for
the dedication of their new church, which was
performed by Walter Wylye, Bishop of Salisbury,
and in 1270 the new refectory was used. (fn. 125) In the
following year Sir Philip Bassett, the abbey's influential supporter, died. The annalist who ceased
to write in 1270 took care that his brief notes
should include the main events in the history of
the Bassetts. (fn. 126)
Sir Harold Brakspear's article (fn. 127) on the site and
the buildings of the abbey is authoritative. It must
suffice here to say that the precinct covered about
24 acres, enclosed by dykes and causeways, with
a cross before the outer gate which marked the
boundary of Chippenham or Pewsham Forest; (fn. 128)
the demesne covered some 450 acres. (fn. 129) The
church was about 180 ft. long; and in 1342 it
had, apparently, a 'separation' for the old or infirm
monks between the monk's choir and the lay
brothers' choir. (fn. 130) The site of the abbey and the
greater part of the demesne were bought by Sir
Edward Baynton, who possibly used some of the
material for his new house at Bromham. The
abbot's house was spared for a time, and in 1555
the Privy Council ordered a search of it for coining
irons. (fn. 131) Sir Edward Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp, obtained six of the Wiltshire manors in
June 1536. (fn. 132) Part of the south transept of the
church was probably destroyed by sinking pits and
mining, in the course of which a workman was
killed; in the end the destruction of buildings and
foundations over the whole site was almost complete. (fn. 133)
Abbots of Stanley (fn. 134)
H., occurs 1198. (fn. 135)
Nicholas, occurs 1201. (fn. 136)
Thomas of Calstone, elected 1205, occurs to
1214. (fn. 137)
Ralph, occurs 1221-3. (fn. 138)
Stephen of Lexington, occurs 1224, retired
1229. (fn. 139)
Walter of Pucklechurch, occurs 1230. (fn. 140)
Peter, occurs 1236. (fn. 141)
Robert (9th abbot), occurs 1241, died 1248. (fn. 142)
William Chinnock, elected 1248, died 1268. (fn. 143)
William of Tinghurst, occurs 1271, 1286. (fn. 144)
Richard, occurs 1280. (fn. 145)
Nicholas, elected 1298, occurs 1301. (fn. 146)
John of Southbury, occurs from 1309 to 1327. (fn. 147)
Robert, occurs 1329. (fn. 148)
John de la Stone, occurs 1342. (fn. 149)
William, occurs 1351-7. (fn. 150)
John Serigge, occurs 1363. (fn. 151)
William, elected 1393. (fn. 152)
John, occurs 1397. (fn. 153)
William, occurs 1408-13. (fn. 154)
Thomas Tintern, occurs 1436-52. (fn. 155)
Thomas Studley, occurs 1455. (fn. 156)
John, occurs 1460, 1463. (fn. 157)
John Horton, occurs 1468-90. (fn. 158)
Thomas, occurs 1495-1518. (fn. 159)
Thomas Calne (or Morley) occurs 1521-36. (fn. 160)
A pointed oval seal (fn. 161) of Abbot Nicholas (the
second of that name in the list), measuring 13/8 by
¾ in., shows a right hand and arm in a sleeve,
issuing from the right and holding a pastoral staff.
The legend runs:
+ SIGILLUM ABBATIS STANL.
Two impressions of another abbot's seal (fn. 162) survive, one on a document of 1280 and the other on
an undated late-13th-century deed of the time of
an Abbot Richard. It is a pointed oval about 15/8
by 1 in., and shows a mitred abbot holding a book
in his left hand and a crosier in his right. There is
a star on one side and a new moon on the other.
The legend is:
+ SIGILL · ABBATIS DE · STANLEIA
A conventual seal (fn. 163) of 1342-74 is round and
measures 15/8 in. in diameter. The Virgin holding
the Child and St. John the Baptist holding a lamb
stand under a double canopy with carved side
panels, on a hatched ground. There is a waist-high
plant between them. The legend is:
* S' COMUNE AGGIS ET 9VENTUS DE STANLEYA IN WILT'
A pointed oval seal (fn. 164) of Abbot William of
Combe, used in 1354, measures 17/8 by 13/8 in., and
shows a figure, perhaps the abbot, standing beneath
a panelled canopy, with what may have been the
letters w and c on either side. In the base is a shield
of arms: crusily fitchy a bend ermine. These arms
resemble those of the Howard family. The legend
is:
S' FSIS WIL . . . E COMBE . . . GIS DE STA ...
There is also a cast of a signet used at the same
period by Abbot William. (fn. 165)
Another pointed oval seal, (fn. 166) about 2½ by 1¾ in.,
which was used in 1363, may have been an abbot's
or a conventual one. Beneath the panelled canopy
are two women, one standing and offering a
book to the other, who is veiled and seated: this
may represent the Visitation. The background is
covered with rosettes. In the base there is a praying figure with a crosier. The legend runs:
. . .S DE STANLEIE
The seal appended to the agreement with Farleigh Priory in 1314 is fragmentary. (fn. 167)
An impression in the British Museum (fn. 168) appears
to have been made by a seal of Stanley Abbey but
cannot be dated. It resembles the first seal described above, with a star and crescent moon like
those on the second.