HOUSES OF BENEDICTINE NUNS
6. THE ABBEY OF BARKING (fn. 1)
The materials for the early history of this
famous monastery are very scanty, although the
main fact of its foundation is clear and definite.
We learn from Bede (fn. 2) and the Nova Legenda
Anglie
(fn. 3) that Erkenwald, before he became bishop
of London, founded two monasteries—one at
Chertsey for himself, and another at Barking for
his sister Ethelburga. But the question of the
date is more difficult. According to the Legenda,
Erkenwald and Ethelburga were born at Stallington, in Lindsey, the son and daughter of a
heathen king named Offa. Erkenwald was
given to Christianity at the time of the coming
of St. Augustine (596-7), and founded the
monastery thirty-three years later. Ethelburga
became a nun to avoid marriage with Eadwine,
king of Northumbria, then a pagan (d. 633); and
as there was then no nunnery (fn. 4) in England, a
nun named Hildelitha was brought from abroad
to instruct her in her duties.
So far, this account is intelligible and consistent; but, nevertheless, it can hardly be
accepted as a whole. To begin with, Ethelburga
is evidently confused with her namesake of Kent,
who actually married Eadwine. But the great
difficulty is that Erkenwald, according to the
generally accepted dates, was consecrated bishop
in 675 and died in 693, so that even if he became
a Christian in early childhood he must have
reached an almost incredible age. A much more
likely date for the foundation is 666, as given in
the register of Chertsey. (fn. 5) If this is not actually
correct, it is probably not more than a few years
from the truth.
It appears from the words used by Bede that
the monastery was originally double, for men as
well as women, as was commonly the case in
those times. Erkenwald himself endowed
Chertsey, but the chief endowment of Barking
came not from him but from the East Saxon
princes. A charter of the founder, printed in
the Monasticon, is probably spurious. That of
Hodilred, (fn. 6) however, appears to be quite genuine,
and may be assigned to the date 692 or 693.
In it he grants and confirms to Ethelburga and
her monastery of Beddanhaam the places called
Ricingahaam, Budinhaam, Decanhaam (probably
Dagenham, though this does not appear among
the possessions of the abbey in Domesday),
Angenlabesham, and the field in the wood called
Widmundesfelt (Withfield or Wyfield in Barking).
These have not yet all been identified.
Erkenwald died at Barking in 693, probably
on 30 April, as that is the day given to him in
the calendar. It is said that the canons of his
church and the monks of Chertsey disputed with
the nuns for the possession of his body, the canons
being eventually successful. The date of Ethelburga's death is not known, but it was presumably
later, as she was alive at the time of Hodilred's
charter. She was afterwards canonized, her day
being 11 October, and eventually shared with
St. Mary the dedication of the abbey. Her
successor was her instructress Hildelitha, also
afterwards canonized; of whom we only hear
that she lived to a great age, and at one time had
under her at Barking Cuthburga, daughter of
Ina of Wessex and wife of Aldfrith of Northumbria, who was afterwards 'mistress of the
rule' at Wimborne Minster (before 705). Then
come great gaps in the history. Another abbess
Ethelburga, possibly of Barking, is mentioned in
a charter of her father Offa, king of Mercia, to
Chertsey in 787. The next event we hear of
is that at the time when St. Edmund suffered
martyrdom (870) the whole congregation of
virgins in this church were burnt by the pagans.
Apparently, this Danish invasion caused the
desertion of the abbey for a century; for then
we are told that Edgar, who with his great
minister Dunstan did so much for the revival of
monasticism, granted it to Wlfhildis, a nun of
Wilton, in reparation for violence offered to her,
and restored it to its old estate with royal munificence. Wlfhildis long ruled over Barking and
the monastery of Horton, founded by herself,
until in the reign of Ethelred the priests of
Barking quarrelled with her and persuaded the
queen-mother Alftrudis to eject her. Alftrudis
then was abbess for twenty years, until she was
overtaken by disaster and induced by a vision of
Ethelburga to recall Wlfhildis from Horton.
Wlfhildis lived for seven years more, dying at
last on 9 September at London, where she had
retired with her flock on account of another
invasion. She also was canonized.
Æfgiva was abbess at the time of the conquest, and William I. confirmed her possession by
charter. (fn. 7) This was probably granted in November or December, 1066, as he was then staying
at Barking (fn. 8) during the building of the Tower
of London, and there received the submission of
Eadwine and Morkere. The Essex possessions
of the abbey at the time of the Domesday survey
have been given elsewhere, (fn. 9) and in addition to
these it owned the manors of Tyburn in Middlesex, Slapton in Bucks and Lidlington in Bedfordshire and land in Weston (in Thames Ditton)
and in Wallington hundred in Surrey.
Maud, queen of Henry I, built stone bridges
over two branches of the Lea at Stratford-byBow and connected them by a causeway, and
considering that a religious house was more
durable than any family and more likely to
fulfil its obligations than laymen bestowed
certain lands for the support of these bridges
upon the abbey of Barking, which was at that
time the nearest monastery to Bow. When
afterwards Gilbert Munfitchet founded an abbey
at Stratford one of the abbesses transferred the
lands with the responsibility for the repairs for
the bridges to Stratford Abbey; (fn. 10) and a dispute
between the two houses was finally settled in
1315 (fn. 11) by the abbot undertaking the maintenance
of the bridges and causeway, for which the
abbess paid him £200, and guaranteeing a rent
of four marks to her.
Agnes was made abbess by Henry I. Stephen
appointed Adeliza the sister of Payn Fitz
John. He confirmed the possessions and liberties of the abbey, restoring to them the
lands which Henry I had afforested, and
in addition granted the hundreds of Becontree and Barstable, offering the latter grant
in person at the high altar. Adeliza founded
the hospital of Ilford and received confirmation
of the liberties of the abbey from Henry II,
dying probably in 1173; when Mary, (fn. 12) the sister
of Thomas Becket, was made abbess in reparation for the death of her brother.
Until 1214 the abbesses had been nominated
by the king, but in that year John, under pressure
from the pope, granted the right of free election
to the English churches, and from thence till the
dissolution we find the elections of the abbesses
of Barking, as a royal foundation, recorded on
the Patent Rolls. Barking was one of the first
houses to exercise the privilege. (fn. 13) The abbey
was vacant at the beginning of 1215 by the
death of Christiana, and the nuns freely elected,
although pressure was put upon them. In
January the king requested (fn. 14) them to elect Sarah
de Walebar. This was apparently not done, and
the king then ordered (fn. 15) the bishop of Winchester
to try to obtain the election of one of three
persons. The aunt of Robert de Ros was to be
chosen if possible, or failing her the sister of John
de Bassingeburn, prioress of Elleschirch, and lastly
the prioress. Under no circumstances was the
election of the sister of Robert Fitz Walter (fn. 16) to
be permitted.
Sybil, the prioress, was elected, and on
24 June the king gave his assent and restored
the temporalities of the abbey to her. (fn. 17) But she
had probably been elected only to keep out the
other two royal candidates, and vacated her
position almost immediately, when Mabel de
Boseham received the temporalities on 31 August. (fn. 18)
During her term of office the abbey church,
of which no traces now remain, was dedicated. (fn. 19)
In 1253 the abbess was exempted from being
charged with converts or others, as she had
granted food and vesture for life to Philippa de
Rading and her daughter. (fn. 20) This is a rather
early record of the claim of the crown to corrodies,
which afterwards crystallized into a demand for
one at each new creation of an abbess. (fn. 21) The
crown also claimed the right to nominate a nun
at each accession to the throne. Alice de Belhus
was thus nominated in 1307, (fn. 22) Margaret Swinford,
afterwards abbess, in 1377, (fn. 23) Maud Kylet in
1404 (fn. 24) and Goda Hampton in 1430. (fn. 25)
The total valuation of the abbey's temporalities
given in the Taxation of 1291 amounted to
£300 13s. 1¼d., of which £104 8s. 4d., or just
over a third, came from the parish of Barking. The bulk of the remainder consisted of
£30 14s. 11¾d. in Ingatestone, £22 10s. 11½d.
in Wigborough, £21 11s. 5½d. in Tollesbury,
£19 3s. 6¼d. in Hockley, £17 12s. 11d. in
Lidlington, £16 8s. 10¾d. in Mucking, £16 in
Bulphan, £15 11s. 7d. in Slapton, £9 3s. 4½d. in
Warley and £8 17s. 4¾d. in Abbess Roding.
Smaller contributions came from over a dozen
other places, including Stanwell in Middlesex,
Thames Ditton in Surrey and Fulbourn in
Cambridgeshire.
In 1315 the church of Mucking was appropriated to the abbey, and a vicarage ordained. (fn. 26)
The churches of Barking, Dagenham and Horndon on the Hill had already been appropriated
at earlier dates; and so were also later those
of Tollesbury in 1355, Hockley in 1382, All
Hallows by the Tower in 1385, and Lidlington in
1410. (fn. 27) Besides these eight churches the abbey
also owned the advowsons of six rectories, viz.,
Bulphan, Ingatestone, Abbess Roding, Warley,
Wigborough and Slapton.
In 1279, after the bishop of London had held a
visitation of Barking Abbey and laid certain injunctions upon the convent, Archbishop Peckham wrote
to the abbess and nuns confirming the bishop's
orders and adding to them. (fn. 28) First he commands
that the divine office shall be celebrated fully and
without omission and that they shall not cut it
short as certain monks had rashly suggested to
them; the hour of midnight is the proper time
for matins, and complin should be said every day
punctually so that chatter may cease and an
opportunity occur for prayer and rest. The
place set apart for the celebration of the mass of
the Blessed Virgin shall be so arranged that the
congregation of the nuns shall be separated from
other worshippers; also, on Innocents' Day the
'mystery' play shall not be performed by children,
lest the praise of God be turned into a game, but
shall be performed by the nuns themselves, all
outsiders being excluded; moreover, the nuns are
to receive the Eucharist on all the chief feasts
and on the anniversaries of their own profession.
A custom having arisen for the priests after
celebrating the service of the dead to pass through
the cloister to the common room carrying drinkables and other things, this is strictly forbidden
for the future. Anyone who requires refreshment
shall have it supplied by the cellaress in the house
of the chief priest; also, the sacrist, when making
the necessary preparations for the illuminating of
the church for the festival of the Purification,
may entertain those who are assisting in the work,
but no other outsiders; also the wine provided
for the altar shall not be sour. Further it appears
that some of the priests are in the habit of
keeping the host in their own cubicles because
they may not pass through the nuns' cloister to
obtain it if suddenly required for dying parishioners; this must not occur in future, but the
host must be kept in an oratory which shall be
always accessible to the priests. Silence is to be
observed, and no one, secular or religious, is to go
into the parlour to talk after sunset, at which
time all gates are to be locked so that none may
go out or come in, and to secure the observance
of this order two nuns above suspicion shall be
bound to see to this every day. The abbess,
also, shall not remain in her chamber about
sunset, except very occasionally to do honour to
guests or on business which cannot wait; she shall
always have with her the elder and wiser members
of the house, and shall when possible, especially
on festivals, dine with the convent. No man,
under pain of excommunication, shall ever go
into the nuns' rooms, except that in case of
illness, when the infirmary is full or the sick person
cannot be moved, the doctor or confessor, or even
the patient's father or brother, may be admitted,
provided they come back speedily; also workmen may enter to do work which cannot be done
by women. The confessions of the nuns shall
be heard in a public place, and except at confession no nun shall speak alone to a man; as
to letting the sisters go out, it shall only be
done for very special reasons, as for instance
if a parent be dying, 'except which cause we
can scarcely think of any grave enough'; they
shall never go alone, nor to a distance, and
shall especially avoid putting up at any monastery
for fear of scandal. Finally, as some of them
are reported to be slow to obey and unwilling to
do unpleasant work, the archbishop desires the
abbess to set a good example by obeying her
diocesan, and to see that her nuns obey her; if
any refuse hard work she is to keep her from the
pleasanter duties and to prevent her going out of
the house; while if any be disobedient three times
she shall present the offender to the bishop.
The bishop issued (fn. 29) his mandate to the official
of the archdeaconry of Essex and to the rural
dean of Barking on 7 April, 1308, for the suppression of the tumultuous assemblies and defilements of churches, in violation of the liberties of
the Church, that took place in the conventual
and parish churches of Barking and in other
churches of the immediate neighbourhood each
year throughout certain Sundays and holidays
near and before the feasts of St. Margaret and
St. Ethelburga. This mandate, however, as to
the evil keeping of patronal feasts was infringed
by Sir John de Massyngburn; and after an
inquisition had been held as to the circumstances
Sir John was canonically admonished (fn. 30) by the
bishop on 8 August, 1311.
In 1221 licence was granted to the abbess to
take estovers and to hunt hares and foxes in her
wood of Hainault. (fn. 31) In 1290 she had a grant of
free warren in Lidlington and Hockley. (fn. 32) In 1319
she had licence to fell 300 oaks in Hainault for
the repair of her manor house of Loxfordebury, which had been burnt, and the church
and other buildings of the abbey, which were
ruinous. (fn. 33)
An instance of one of the uses to which a
mediæval nunnery might be put is seen in 1322,
when Eleanor de Burgh was detained a prisoner (fn. 34)
in the abbey under the influence of the Despensers,
who extorted from her a transfer of valuable possessions, which, however, she recovered later. (fn. 35)
In 1324 an inquisition (fn. 36) was taken before the
justices in eyre of the forest of Essex, and it was
found that the abbess and convent had always
had free chase within the forest and without to
take hares and all other vermin of the forest and
free warren in all their demesne lands. They
had two carts called 'skynanchours,' each with
one horse and one man, carrying firewood for
the abbey without view and livery of foresters
and verderers through the whole year, except the
fence month, and reasonable estover, timber, and
fuel for the abbey and its manors in their woods
within the forest by view and livery of the
ministers of the forest. And they had without
the regard at Barking, Warley, Ingatestone,
Roding, Tollesbury and Wigborough groves
where they could take necessaries for their house
and manors without view or livery of the king's
ministers, though the king's foresters entered at
their will for the supervision and custody of the
king's venison. Edward III in 1338 made a
grant (fn. 37) to the abbess and nuns for ever of liberty
from pleas of the forest and full power of felling
and carrying wood for their firing and buildings,
either from their own woods or any woods sold
or given to them. In 1489 it was found (fn. 38) that
the abbess had free chase within the bailiwick of
Hainault to hunt all beasts of the forest in season
venatione grosse fere bestie excepted, and free
chase within the forest and without to hunt
hares and rabbits and the fox, badger, cat, and
other vermin.
Elizabeth Chaucy became a nun at Barking
in 1381, and John of Gaunt paid £51 8s. 2d.
for expenses and gifts on the occasion of her
admission. (fn. 39) It seems possible from this that
she was a sister or other near relative of the poet
Chaucer, whose connexion with John of Gaunt
is well known.
The oratory called the Rood Loft on the walls
of the cemetery, now known as the 'Fire Bell
Gate,' and the only portion of the abbey remaining, was probably built towards the end of the
fourteenth century. Pope Boniface IX on
22 March, 1400, granted an indult to the abbess
to have mass and other divine offices celebrated
in the oratory, in which a certain cross was preserved, and to which a great multitude of people
resorted; (fn. 40) and on 25 March he granted relaxation of penance to penitents visiting it at certain
times. (fn. 41)
On Ascension Day, 1397, Bishop Braybrook
received the professions of fourteen nuns. (fn. 42)
Bishop Clifford held an ordination in the conventual church of Barking on 17 May, 1410, at
which there were seventy-seven candidates. (fn. 43)
Dame Joan de Felton, the mother of Abbess
Sybil, who was afterwards buried in the abbey
church, (fn. 44) had licence (fn. 45) in 1398 to grant land in
London, Barking and Dagenham to the abbey.
She founded a chantry of one chaplain to celebrate
divine service there at the tomb of St. Ethelburga for the good estate of Sybil de Felton, then
abbess, Margaret Sayham, then a nun, Sir John
de Felton, John Hermesthorpe and the abbess
and nuns and the benefactors of the abbey, and
for their souls after death and the souls of John
and Agnes Say. (fn. 46)
About 1377 the abbey met with a great misfortune, from which it seems never to have
completely recovered, in the devastation by
floods of a large part of its possessions along the
Thames. Frequent references to this occur.
In 1380, in consideration of their impoverishment and their great expenses in repairing the
dykes against the Thames, the king released to
the convent their charge of repairing about a
mile and a half of the enclosure of Havering
park, on condition of their repairing 27 perches
immediately and paying a rent of 5 marks
yearly. (fn. 47) In 1382, when they had licence to
appropriate the church of Hockley, it was stated
that their lands were inundated and their income
was diminished to the value of 400 marks yearly. (fn. 48)
In 1384 they were allowed to impress labourers
for their works on Barking marsh, which was
unusually flooded and on the point of being quite
lost. (fn. 49) At the vacancy in 1393 the temporalities
were remitted to them on account of their losses. (fn. 50)
In 1392 (fn. 51) and 1462 (fn. 52) various liberties in Becontree hundred were granted to them for similar
reasons. In 1409 they were exempted for ten
years from payment of tenths (these not exceeding £50 yearly), as it appeared that they had
spent over £2,000 in the endeavour to save their
lands, and had lost 600 acres of meadow in
Dagenham marsh and 120 acres sown with
wheat in another marsh. (fn. 53) In 1410, when they
had licence to appropriate the church of Lidlington, it was said that none of the nuns had more
than 14s. yearly for her habit and vesture from
the original foundation of the abbey. (fn. 54) The
flooded lands of the abbey were afterwards exempted from the statute 4 Henry VII, cap. 15,
extending the jurisdiction of the mayor of London
as the conservator of the Thames. (fn. 55)
A curious dispute occurred in 1450 concerning the right of entry and issue through the gate
of the parish churchyard of Barking, where
Robert Osbern, a clerk of the secret signet, had
a house and garden on lease from the abbey. It
was brought to a head on Sunday, 8 February,
and the abbess complained of having been thrown
down in a scuffle about the lock and key. The
trouble probably arose from the fact that the
abbess sent her servants to hunt in Robert's
demesne lands in Barking, where the king had
granted him warren. A commission was appointed (fn. 56) on 26 February to inquire into the
matter, but the result is not known.
A portion of the register of Abbess Katharine
de la Pole is quoted by Lysons. (fn. 57) One entry in
it relates to the permission given by her to the
parishioners of Barking to put up a new bell over
the chapel of the Rood Loft in place of one
alleged to be defective, though they were not to
interfere with the repairs of the roof. Another
tells how in 1462 John Rigby having married
Joan Malmeynes, whose family were lords of
Cranbrook, dug up and broke the pipes of a conduit leading from Cranbrook to the abbey until
the abbess and nuns, for want of water, consented to pay a yearly rent of 24s. to him.
Later, however, the abbess discovered a new
spring on the lands of the abbey, and caused a
new watercourse to be made from it to the
abbey. Edmund and Jasper Tudor, the sons of
Owen Tudor and Queen Katharine, were at
one time sent to the abbess by the council of
Henry VI to be brought up in her custody;
and it appeared from her petition in 1440 that
the sum of £52 12s. was then due to her for
their maintenance. (fn. 58)
Bishop Fitz James visited the abbey in March,
1508, and issued injunctions referring to the
clashing of the festivals of the Visitation of
St. Mary and the octave of SS. Peter and Paul,
and also to the due observance as a double feast
of the Translation of SS. Ethelburga, Hildelitha
and Wilfilda. (fn. 59)
The abbess of Barking had precedence over
other abbesses, and she was one of the four who,
holding of the king by barony, were summoned (fn. 60) with the bishops and abbots to do military service under Henry III and Edward I. (fn. 61)
The chief officer of the convent was the prioress,
and the second the high cellaress. Besides these
there were also the kitchener, the under-cellaress,
two chantresses, two sub-prioresses and two
fratresses. All are mentioned in The Charthe
(fn. 62)
longynge to the Office of the Celeresse of the
Monastery of Barkinge, which treats in great
detail of the rents set apart for her, her duties,
and the allowances of food and money to be
made by her to the nuns, both at ordinary times
and at special feasts, anniversaries and seasons.
Thirty-seven ladies of the convent were to be
provided for at the time when it was drawn up,
and of these some were to have a double share.
The prioress, high cellaress and kitchener were
always among the 'doubles'; and on some occasions also other officers, probably in the order of
their rank in the abbey.
No event of importance is recorded in connexion with the dissolution. The net value of the
abbey is returned in the Valor as £862 12s. 5½d.;
another account (fn. 63) giving this as £862 12s. 5¾d.
and the gross value as £1,084 6s. 2¼d. It was
third in order of wealth among the nunneries;
Sion, a foundation of not much more than a
century, coming first, Shaftesbury second, and
Wilton fourth. Audeley, the chancellor, writing (fn. 64)
to Cromwell in September, 1535, asks that the
visitation might be postponed that he might
speak about it; but neither the purpose nor the
result of his request are known. The abbey was
finally surrendered (fn. 65) before Dr. William Petre,
the royal commissioner, in the chapter-house, on
14 November, 1539. Twelve days later pensions (fn. 66) were granted to the nuns. The abbess
received the large allowance of 200 marks yearly,
and smaller sums were assigned to thirty other
nuns: Thomasina Jenney, Dorothy Fitzlewes,
Agnes Townesend, Margaret Scrowpe, Joan
Fyncham, Margery Ballard, Martha Fabyan,
Ursula Wentworth, Joan Drurye, Elizabeth
Wyott, Agnes Horsey, Suzanna Suliarde, Margaret Cotton, Gabriel Shelton, Margery Paston,
Elizabeth Badcok, Agnes Buknam, Katharine
Pollard, Anne Snowe, Margaret Bramston, Mary
Tyrell, Elizabeth Prist, Audrey Mordaunt, Winifred Mordaunt, Elizabeth Banbrik, Margaret
Kempe, Alice Hyde, Lucy Long, Matilda Gravell and Margaret Grenehyll. Most of these,
including the abbess, were still living and in
receipt of their pensions under Philip and Mary. (fn. 67)
The abbey was possessed of considerable wealth,
although the inventories taken at the dissolution
appear to have been lost. An account (fn. 68) in 1540
records £182 2s. 10d. received as the price of divers
goods, grain and cattle sold, £744 for 186 fodders
of lead and £122 13s. for 12,912 lb. of bellmetal from eleven bells. Besides this, the jewels
and vessels of silver amounted to no less than
3,586 ounces, of which 2,695 were silver-gilt,
471 parcel gilt, and 420 pure. There were
also a jewel of 65 ounces called a 'monstraunce,'
with a beryl, and some vestments.
The distribution of the possessions of the
abbey in 1539 was much the same as in 1291,
the Essex manors owned by it being Barking,
Cokermouth in Dagenham, Westbury in Barking, Wangey Hall (in Barking), Great Warley,
Bulphan, Mucking, Hawkesbury (in Fobbing),
Hockley, Tollesbury, Highall (in Tollesbury),
Wigborough, Abbes Hall, and Caldecotes in
Abbess Roding and Leaden Roding, Ingatestone,
Wood Barns (in Ingatestone), Hanley Hall (in
Ingatestone) and Down Hall. The site of the
monastery, with the conventual house and
demesne lands, was granted by Edward VI in
1551 to Edward, Lord Clinton.
Abbesses Of Barking
St. Ethelburga, (fn. 69)
circa 666—circa 695.
St. Hildelitha, (fn. 69)
circa 695-circa 700.
St. Wlfhildis, (fn. 69)
circa 965.
Queen Alftrudis. (fn. 70)
St. Wlfhildis, again. (fn. 71)
Ælfgiva, (fn. 72)
circa 1066.
Queen Maud, (fn. 73) wife of Henry I.
Agnes. (fn. 74)
Queen Maud, (fn. 73) wife of Stephen.
Adeliza. (fn. 75)
Mary, (fn. 76) appointed 1173.
Maud, daughter of Henry II, appointed
circa 1175, (fn. 77) occurs 1198. (fn. 78)
Christiana de Valoniis, (fn. 79) occurs 1202, 1205.
Sybil, (fn. 80) elected 1215.
Mabel de Boseham, (fn. 81) elected 1215, died
1247.
Maud, daughter of king John, elected 1247, (fn. 82)
died 1252. (fn. 83)
Christiana de Boseham, elected 1252, (fn. 84) resigned 1258. (fn. 85)
Maud de Leveland, elected 1258, (fn. 86) resigned
1275. (fn. 87)
Alice de Merton, elected 1276, (fn. 88) died 1291. (fn. 89)
Isabel de Basinges, elected 1291, (fn. 90) died
1294. (fn. 91)
Maud de Grey, elected 1294, (fn. 92) died 1295. (fn. 93)
Anne de Vere, died 1318. (fn. 94)
Eleanor de Weston, elected 1318, (fn. 95) died
1329. (fn. 96)
Yolande de Sutton, elected 1329, (fn. 97) died
1341. (fn. 98)
Maud Montagu, elected 1341, (fn. 99) died
1352. (fn. 100)
Isabel Montagu, elected 1352, (fn. 101) died
1358. (fn. 102)
Katharine de Sutton, elected 1358 (fn. 103) , died
1377. (fn. 104)
Maud Montagu, elected 1377, (fn. 105) died
1393. (fn. 106)
Sybil de Felton, or Morle, elected 1393, (fn. 107)
died 1419. (fn. 108)
Margaret Swynford, elected 1419, (fn. 109) died
1433. (fn. 110)
Katharine de la Pole, elected 1433, (fn. 111) died
1473. (fn. 112)
Elizabeth Lexham, elected 1473, (fn. 113) died
1479. (fn. 114)
Elizabeth Shuldham, elected 1479, (fn. 115) died
1499. (fn. 116)
Elizabeth Grene, elected 1499, (fn. 117) died 1527. (fn. 118)
Dorothy Barley, elected 1527, (fn. 119) the last
abbess. (fn. 120)
The seal of the abbey attached to the deed of
surrender (fn. 121) is a pointed oval of red wax measuring
about three by two inches when perfect. At the
top within a cusping is St. Mary with the
infant Jesus, between SS. Peter and Paul. In
the middle, under three cusped arches supported
by four pillars, are St. Erkenwald, with pastoral
staff and book, between SS. Ethelburga and
Hildelitha, each with pastoral staff. At the sides
are two candlesticks. Below, under a cusped
circular archway, is a head of an abbess. Legend:
. . . VA . . . . RKING . . . OVENT . . . .
. ROTEGAT IS . . .