10. THE ABBEY OF STRATFORD LANGTHORNE (fn. 1)
Stratford, like Coggeshall, was a daughterhouse of the abbey of Savigny in Normandy. It
was founded by William de Montfitchet (fn. 2) in
1135; the actual day of foundation, by which
the assembly of the convent is probably meant,
being given (fn. 3) as 25 July. The founder granted
to the monks by charter all his lordship of (West)
Ham, eleven acres of meadow, two mills by the
causeway of Stratford, his wood of Buckhurst
and the tithe of his pannage. The abbey was
dedicated in honour of St. Mary.
Henry II by a charter in the latter part of
his reign confirmed the grants by the founder and
others, including the churches of West Ham and
Leyton, of the grant of Gilbert de Montfitchet,
and that of Greenford (Ilford), of the grant
of Sybil the wife of Norman. Two charters
were obtained from Richard I. By the first, on
15 September, 1189, he granted liberties, and by
the second, on 7 December, 1189, he confirmed
the possession of the churches of West Ham and
Burstead and various lands, and granted licence
to cut wood for fuel and building, pasture for
eight 'greater hundreds' of sheep on the heath
by Walthamstow, and liberties. Both charters
were subsequently ratified by him under his later
seal on 24 October, 1198. John on 3 June,
1203, granted licence for the enclosure of the
wood of Buckhurst; (fn. 4) and in 1207 restored to
them the land of 'la Suthbir'' in West Ham,
which had belonged to John de Venicia, and
which the king had granted away to Peter de
Pratellis. (fn. 5) Henry III made a liberal grant to
the convent on 14 May, 1253, of free warren
in their demesne lands of West Ham, Leyton,
Chigwell, Woodford, Mountnessing, Weald, Ingrave, Dunton, East Horndon, Chadwell, Little
Thurrock, Great and Little Burstead, Ging
Landry and Ging Joyberd, as well as licence to
enclose a grove in Leyton, and a market on
Tuesday at Great Burstead, and a fair there
yearly on the vigil, the day and the morrow of
St. Mary Magdalene. (fn. 6) All these grants were
confirmed by Edward I and several later kings. (fn. 7)
Edward IV on 23 July, 1468, granted to the
convent two tuns of wine yearly for the celebration of masses, (fn. 8) but as they did not receive full
payment of this an annuity of £10 was substituted on 19 March, 1479. (fn. 9) He also on 10 December, 1476, granted to them a market on
Wednesday at Billericay, and two fairs of three
days each there yearly at the feasts of St. Mary
Magdalene and the Decollation of St. John. (fn. 10)
A fragment (fn. 11) of a register or ledger book of the
abbey is preserved at Trinity College, Dublin,
but it only contains some agreements with Halywell Nunnery of no great importance.
The temporalities of the abbey mentioned in
the Taxation of 1291 amount to the considerable
sum of £209 3s. 3½d. yearly. The chief contributions were £45 14s. 4d. from West Ham,
£33 9s. 10d. from Great Burstead and
£23 3s. 6½d. from Leyton; while £13 8s. 0d.
came from Mountnessing, £12 19s. 0d. from
Little Thurrock, £12 17s. 2d. from Chigwell
and £11 12s. 0½d. from Ilford, and amounts of
over £1 from a dozen other places, including
£7 11s. 8d. from Lewisham in Kent and
£1 12s. 0d. from Winkfield in Berkshire. The
abbey also owned the rectories and advowsons of
the vicarages of Great Burstead, West Ham,
Little Ilford, Leyton and Great Maplestead.
Licence was granted by the king in 1306 for the
acquisition of the advowson of the church of
East Ham, and on 9 April, 1309, (fn. 12) the church
was appropriated to the abbey and a vicarage
ordained by the bishop, who, however, reserved
to himself and his successors the collation to the
vicarage. Numerous acquisitions of property are
recorded on the early Fines; and later, after the
Statute of Mortmain, many licences to acquire
lands appear on the Patent Rolls. Of these the
most important is probably the licence granted to
the abbot and convent on 15 March, 1319, to
acquire the reversion of the manor of East
Ham. (fn. 13) They appear to have entered on the
manor without due process in Chancery, for in
1373 they had to pay £20 to obtain pardon for
this trespass. (fn. 14) The manor of Burstead is mentioned in 1285 as having been granted to the
abbey by Richard Siward, to whom it had previously been granted by William Marshal, earl of
Pembroke. (fn. 15)
The abbot was charged with the repair of the
bridges and causeway between Stratford-atte-Bow
and Ham Stratford, as owner of the lands which
had been granted by Maud, queen of Henry I,
to Barking Abbey for that purpose. These lands
were subsequently transferred to Stratford, and a
dispute arose between the two houses about the
obligation, which was settled in 1315 (fn. 16) in favour
of the abbess of Barking, who however paid £200
to Stratford in recompense. The abbot had
licence (fn. 17) on 3 January, 1317, to move sand and
gravel from some parts of the highway to others
for this repair. In 1691, long after the dissolution, it was decided in the King's Bench that
the tenants of these lands were liable for the
same repair. (fn. 18) The abbot was also to a large
extent responsible for the maintenance of the
sea wall round the marshes of West Ham, and
in 1280 (fn. 19) and 1292 (fn. 20) we find him complaining
that other persons having land in the neighbourhood refused to make their proper contributions,
while in 1339 he endeavoured unsuccessfully
to put the whole burden of repairing one of the
dykes in West Ham marshes on to the prioress
of Stratford-at-Bow. (fn. 21)
Leland, (fn. 22) writing about the time of the dissolution, says ' This Howse first sett amonge the
low Marsches was aftar with sore Fludes defacyd
and removid to a Cell or Graunge longyng to it
caullyd Burgestede in Estsex, a mile or more
from Billirica. Thes monks remainid at Burgstede untyll entrete was made that they might
have sum helpe otherwyse. Then one of the
Richards, Kings of England, toke the Ground
and Abbay of Strateford into his protection, and
reedifienge it brought the forsayde Monks agayne
to Stratford, where amonge the Marsches they
reinhabytyd.' This statement was probably
made from tradition only, and it is not borne out
by any existing documentary evidence, though it
is by no means impossible. The Richard referred
to must almost certainly have been Richard I,
but neither in his charters nor in that of
Henry II is there any indication of such removal.
But, however this may be, it is certain that at
quite early times the abbey became prosperous;
it was one of the richest (fn. 23) and, owing to its
proximity to London, one of the most important
of the order in England. In 1267 Henry III
received the pope's legate at the abbey and made
peace with the barons there. (fn. 24) Henry IV was
several times at the abbey in 1411 and 1412. (fn. 25)
In 1501 the abbot was one of the people appointed to receive Katharine of Arragon; (fn. 26) and
on 10 September, 1533, Abbot Robert, (fn. 27) with the
abbots of Westminster, St. Albans and Bermondsey, assisted the bishop of London at the baptism
of the Princess Elizabeth in the church of the
Friars Minor at Greenwich. The abbot also
assisted at the funeral (fn. 28) of queen Jane Seymour in
November, 1537.
At the beginning of the reign of Edward I (fn. 29)
the abbot and convent were considerably in debt
to Elias son of Moses, a Jew of London, and
Floria his wife and others, for lands bought in
Mountnessing and various loans. The king,
however, at the instance of his mother, Queen
Eleanor, pardoned them all pains and usuries of
these debts, provided that they satisfied the Jews
of the principal. Inquiry was to be made as to
the amount of the debt, and the charters whereby
they were bound were to be withdrawn from the
chest of the chirographers of the Jews and
delivered to the abbot and convent. If the latter
could show by stars or other instruments that
they had repaid anything allowance was to be
made to them accordingly.
Under Edward I and Edward II the abbot
was summoned to Parliament, (fn. 30) though not on
any subsequent occasion.
The abbot is often mentioned as going abroad,
generally to the chapter general at Cîteaux,
being allowed in 1316 (fn. 31) to take as much as £40
with him for his expenses. In 1345 (fn. 32) he went
to Savigny to excuse himself from attendance
at the next chapter general.
On 18 April, 1350, the king granted (fn. 33) protection for one year to the abbot, who at the command of his superior abroad was making a visitation of certain houses of the order in England
and Wales. The abbot of Stratford, with the
abbots of Boxley and St. Mary Graces by the
Tower, held the provincial chapter of the order
at London in 1395, (fn. 34) and Abbot Hugh as one
of the conservators of the order was concerned in
the deposition of the abbot of Buckland in
1470. (fn. 35)
Corrodies were claimed by the crown in the
abbey. On 30 March, 1317, Master John de
Sutton, the king's cook, was sent (fn. 36) to the abbot
and convent with a request that they would grant
him maintenance in food and clothing and two
robes yearly as for a servant, and maintenance for
two grooms and two horses, and robes for the
grooms of the suit of the abbot's grooms, and
that they would find him candles, litter, firewood,
and all other necessaries, and assign to him a
chamber in the abbey. But Richard II on
24 May, 1397, alleging that 'William de
Montfitchet, who began to found the abbey,
died without heir before he could found it, so
that the abbot and convent were destitute of a
protector,' granted (fn. 37) that he should be considered
their founder, and they should be of his foundation
and patronage; and they should have all liberties
and franchises as other Cistercian houses, and
should be quit of corrodies; and at voidance they
should not seek licence before proceeding to election, and no escheator should meddle with the
temporalities; and they should not be made collectors of tenths, etc. This grant may perhaps
be the foundation of Leland's statement. The
last clause, of exemption from collection, was
revoked (fn. 38) on 8 May, 1401, at the supplication of
the bishop of London, who represented that it
would be to the prejudice of the king and prelates and a pernicious example.
The abbey suffered from the insurrection of
the peasants in 1381, its goods being carried off
and its charters burned. A commission was
appointed (fn. 39) on 7 August to inquire into the
matter, and to compel the tenants to render their
accustomed services.
Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford and
Essex, who died in 1336, was buried in the abbey. (fn. 40)
The abbot and convent undertook under
severe penalties in 1380 (fn. 41) to celebrate mass daily
at the altar of the Holy Ghost in their church,
for the soul of Thomas Hatfeld, bishop of
Durham, except in certain specified contingencies,
such as pestilence, war, or the burning of their
house. In 1392 (fn. 42) they agreed to celebrate mass
daily for the soul of William de Tetlyngbury,
clerk, at the altar of the Holy Cross on the north
side, where his body lay buried, and also at the
altar of St. Mary.
When William Tyder, or Tetter, was abbot
in 1521, (fn. 43) he gave a receipt by Robert Parker,
a monk of the monastery, to John a Parys,
father-in-law of the latter, for two sums of
£20, which he had borrowed, as he had to pay
the king a large sum by way of loan. A
curious light is thrown on the internal history
of the abbey by the statement made by Parys
four years later. The abbot did this only for a
policy, that his monastery might seem to the
king's collectors to be in extreme poverty.
Shortly afterwards the abbot fell ill, and Parys
went to Stratford to know at what point he stood
for his money. Sir William Hurlestone, now
abbot, showed him that the very £40 was locked
up in a chest and had never been used. The
abbot soon after died, and Hurlestone made labour
to be abbot, and desired Parys to speak in his
favour to his son-in-law, promising before certain
persons that he would pay the debt, but after his
election he refused to do so. (fn. 44)
Thomas, abbot of Ford, was commissioned (fn. 45) to
visit the abbey and other Cistercian houses in
1535, but nothing is known of the visitation. It
was probably visited by Doctor Leigh in the same
year, and the £40 mentioned below may have
been offered to him as a bribe. That there were
dissensions in the abbey is evident from the
following letter (fn. 46) of the convent to Sir Roger
Chomley, recorder of London:—' Sunday last
the abbot according to the old papistical custom
read a sentence among us saying he was grieved
so to do, not only denouncing us accursed because
of our controversy at this last visitation, discharging our conscience according to our oath to
the king as supreme head of the church, but also
for proclaiming it abroad, saying that we are
accursed. The excommunication was procured
by the general chapter beyond sea by none other
authority than that of certain bishops of Rome
in past years. All such excommunications are
forbidden by Parliament as contrary to the king's
supremacy. Such conduct, we think, is not that
of a true subject. If not, we desire you will make
interest with the king that we may obtain absolution. We desire you, Master Steward, if you think
it contrary to law, to show it to the visitors.'
In the same year Gabriel Donne, (fn. 47) a monk of
Stratford, who had been studying at Louvain, is
said to have obtained a large abbey in the west,
probably Buckfastleigh.
The abbey is returned in the Valor as being
worth £511 16s. 3d. yearly, the gross value
being given by Speed as £573 15s. 6¾d.; though
later rentals of its possessions amount to considerably more. In an account (fn. 48) of the 'yearly
increase gotten and improved in the surveying of
divers the king's purchased lands by Geoffrey
Chamber, surveyor and receiver general of the
said lands,' in 29 Henry VIII, the value of the
abbey is said to have increased by £96 9s. 9d.
It thus survived the first dissolution, but nothing
more is heard of it until 18 March, 1538, when
it was surrendered (fn. 49) to the king by William,
abbot; William Persouns, prior; John Merryot,
chanter; John Ryddsdall, sub-prior and sacrist;
Antony Clercke, bachelor; John Gybbes, Christopher Snow, William Danyell, William Peyrson,
Thomas Selbey, William Symonde, John Scott,
Richard Stanton, Thomas Drake and John
Wryght, the last of whom could not write,
and so had to make his mark. There were
debts (fn. 50) or charges on its lands amounting to
£276 13s. 4d., viz. to the king for rent, stuff
and cattle of Stratford £110, to Stephen Vaughan
100 marks, to Dr. Leighe £40, to Stephen
Kirton £40, and to others £20. The plate
amounted to 279 ounces of gilt and 966 ounces
of parcel gilt and white. (fn. 51) A relic, 'said to
be a piece of the Holy Cross,' adorned with
silver-gilt, was found in the abbey and delivered (fn. 52)
to Cromwell on the king's warrant. Pensions (fn. 53)
were granted to all the monks except John
Wryght, the abbot receiving 100 marks yearly.
An account (fn. 54) for the year following the dissolution mentions among the possessions of the
abbey the manors of Burstead, Westhouse (in
Burstead), Cowbrige (in Mountnessing and
Hutton), Buckwynkes (in Buttsbury), Whites
and Gurneys (in Burstead), Biggyn (in Chadwell), Lewisham, Beryngers (in Barking and
Little Ilford), Little Ilford, Reyhouse, Eastwestham, Playce, Leyton, Eastham and Caldecote (in South Weald). The possessions were
dispersed among several persons. Peter Mewtas,
one of the gentlemen ushers of the privy chamber, and Joan his wife had a grant (fn. 55) in tail male
on 15 February, 1539, of the reversions and rents
reserved upon several leases in and about the
abbey. The manor and rectory of Great Burstead
and some other manors and lands were granted (fn. 56)
in fee to Sir Richard Ryche on 15 July in the
same year.
Abbots Of Stratford (fn. 57)
Henry, occurs 1169. (fn. 58)
William, occurs 1192. (fn. 59)
Benedict, (fn. 60) elected 1199, resigned 1218.
Richard, (fn. 61) occurs 1218, 1235.
Hugh, occurs 1237, (fn. 62) 1254. (fn. 63)
John, occurs 1272. (fn. 64)
Robert, occurs 1286, (fn. 65) 1288. (fn. 66)
Henry, occurs 1292. (fn. 67)
Richard, occurs 1311, (fn. 68) 1316, (fn. 69) 1327, (fn. 70)
1333. (fn. 71)
William (fn. 72) occurs 1340, (fn. 73) 1342, (fn. 74) died
1348-9. (fn. 75)
John, occurs 1351. (fn. 76)
William, occurs 1358. (fn. 77)
Herman, occurs 1385, (fn. 78) 1403. (fn. 79)
Richard Knotte, occurs 1415. (fn. 80)
William Wombwell or Wymbyll, occurs
1440, (fn. 81) 1457. (fn. 82)
John Reyseld or Reyfeld, occurs 1460, (fn. 83)
1463. (fn. 84)
Hugh Watford, occurs 1466, (fn. 85) 1480. (fn. 86)
William Hyccheman, (fn. 87) occurs 1510, 1514,
1516.
William Etherway, elected 1516, (fn. 88) occurs
1523. (fn. 89)
William Huddlestone, elected 1524, (fn. 90) the
last abbot. (fn. 91)
The seal (fn. 92) of the abbey in the thirteenth century is a pointed oval of dark green wax, 2 in. by
1¼ in., representing a hand holding a crozier.
Legend:—
SIGILLUM . . . IS DE STRATFOR . .
The seal attached to the deed of surrender (fn. 93) is
of red wax and circular, 1¾ in. in diameter,
representing the Virgin seated with the infant
Jesus in a canopied niche with tabernacle work
on either side. The top and bottom are broken.
Legend:—
SIGILL' CON . . . STRATFORDE