HOUSE OF CISTERCIAN MONKS
9. THE ABBEY OF CLEEVE (fn. 1)
The monastery was founded by William de
Roumara, third Earl of Lincoln, who had a grant
of the Crown estate of Cleeve in Somerset, and
gave first of all the church of Cleeve to Bishop
Reginald of Bath for the endowment of the
church of Wells, and afterwards all his lands at
Cleeve, with the liberties and customs he enjoyed
from them, to God, St. Mary, and to the monks
of St. Laurence of Revesby, a Cistercian abbey
in Lincolnshire, founded by his grandfather,
to the end that Hugh, the abbot of Revesby,
might found at Cleeve an abbey of the
Cistercian order. The foundation charter is
witnessed by Bishop Reginald (1174–91), and in
the confirmation of this gift Hugh Bishop of
Lincoln (1186–1202) appears as one of the witnesses. The date of the foundation thus falls
between the years 1186 and 1191
The buildings of the Cistercian Abbey (fn. 2) seem
to have been begun by 1198. A new church was
rising, the monastic church as distinct from the
parochial prebendal church, and so the distinction
arose that the parochial church was called the
church of Old Cleeve, a term which is found
as early as 1387. (fn. 3)
It was difficult however for a distant monastery like that at Bec, of which the abbot held
the prebend of Cleeve, to look after the temporalia of the parish church, and in order to relieve
them from such responsibility the Benedictine
monastery of Bec (fn. 4) let out on a perpetual lease
the church of Cleeve to the Cistercians for an
annual rent of 40 marks, and this arrangement
was confirmed by Archbishop Hubert (1193–
1207). Thus the two monasteries were linked
together in their common interest in the prebendal church of Old Cleeve; and in the 14th
century the convent of Cleeve (fn. 5) was called upon
as lessee to answer for the alien abbot, the lessor.
The internal history of the abbey is extremely
meagre, as the order claimed exemption from
the ordinary visitation of the bishops. The
convent started with Ralph the first abbot and
his twelve companions who had left their house
at Revesby (fn. 6) to found in Somerset the only
monastery of their order in that county. It was
not a large house and was never rich. Holding
the two churches of Cleeve and East Camel,
the monks had to make provision for the maintenance of the vicars there, and in 1320 (fn. 7) Bishop
Drokensford confirmed the ordination of the
vicarage of Cleeve. Though the monastery of
Bec is mentioned, the Norman abbey had no
responsibility, for the convent at Cleeve had
the farm of the church.
The church of East Camel had been given
to the monks by Hubert de Burgh, (fn. 8) and the
gift had been confirmed by King John as
early as 1202. A vicarage had been ordained
there in 1282, but on account of poverty the
abbey had obtained licence to let out the
church to farm, and the lessee had apparently
appropriated all that he could, regardless of the
rights of the vicar. Bishop Drokensford came
to the rescue of the latter in 1317, and in 1348
Bishop Ralph of Shrewsbury, (fn. 9) on his institution
of John Moone as vicar, records carefully the
details of the endowment.
The monastic church was certainly built as
early as 1232, for in that year Henry III (fn. 10) made
a grant of oaks from the park of Newton for the
choir stalls.
In the grant made to the monks by Reginald
de Mohun, 1204–13, (fn. 11) they are described as
'monachi Vallis Floridæ quæ vulgo dicitur Clyva.'
Gilbert de Woolavington, rector of Huntspill,
in 1297 agreed with Henry, Abbot of Cleeve,
so that the monastery bound itself to provide
for two secular priests to serve in the new chapel
at Woolavington, and offered the church of
East Camel as a pledge; and in return Gilbert
de Woolavington endowed the abbey with means
for the support of two extra monks, for cowls
for fifteen monks and for certain pittances. (fn. 12)
In 1400 this foundation comes before us through
a papal confirmation. (fn. 13) The prior of the
hospital of St. John at Bridgwater was connected
with the foundation, as there were three secular
priests serving in the chapel at Woolavington,
the third being maintained by the hospital,
whose agreement with Gilbert de Woolavington
is dated 1285, twelve years earlier than that with
the abbey of Cleeve. This confirmation states
that the number of monks in 1297 was twentysix, and this benefaction provides for two more.
In January 1339 Pope Benedict XII (fn. 14) wrote to
the Dean of Wells and others to carry out the
papal regulations touching apostates, in reference to Bartholomew Ace, a Cistercian monk of
Cleeve, who had left the order and now desired
to return to it. In 1390 William Oliver, (fn. 15) a
monk of Cleeve, was raised to the rank of a papal
chaplain, and in 1424 (fn. 16) the abbot John Stone
received the same distinction.
On 23 August 1455 Bishop Beckington (fn. 17)
issued a commission to James, Bishop of Bangor,
to dedicate the chapel of the B. V. Mary near
Old Cleeve, which David the abbot had rebuilt
and enlarged. This chapel in the record of
the confirmation of the vicarage of Old Cleeve
in 1320 (fn. 18) was called the Chapel of St. Mary juxta
Mare, and the monks were to receive the oblations
made at it. In 1398 (fn. 19) we find Bishop Stafford
of Exeter granting an indulgence for its repair,
since it had been greatly damaged by the sea,
and in 1400 (fn. 20) the pope granted an indulgence
to those who should give for its maintenance
and repair. In 1466 (fn. 21) the monastery received
from the Crown the right to hold a weekly
market on Wednesdays and yearly fairs on the
festival of St. James the Apostle and of the
Exaltation of the Holy Cross, to recoup the monks
the heavy expenses they had been put to in the
repair of the chapel. Owing to the continuous
rain a serious landslip had occurred in the
adjoining hill, and this had fallen on the chapel
which had been built on the sea shore in the
manor of Cleeve, and in which miracles had been
wrought. The chapel with the adjoining
buildings had been crushed to the ground,
except the altar of the chapel and the image
of the Virgin, which had been miraculously
preserved uninjured. The new chapel was not
on the site of the older one, but in another place
and was afterwards a place of pilgrimage, being
coupled in the will of Richard Player, (fn. 22) vicar of
Kingston, with St. Joseph's chapel at Glastonbury, and to the time of the Dissolution was a
source of considerable profit to the monks. In
1536 (fn. 23) it possessed four bells, and the next year
Anthony Bustard, gentleman, offered to give
£20 a year rent for the chapel, together with all
oblations and profits. In 1542 (fn. 24) it was granted
to Robert Earl of Sussex and Mary his wife.
The later years of the existence of the monastery were years of great financial embarrassment. The last two abbots had been extravagant, and leases and grants seem to have been
made for the sake of gaining the support of
the laity in the neighbourhood. Notwithstanding its poverty the cloisters of the monastery were being rebuilt in 1534, (fn. 25) for in that
year Sir Hugh Roper, vicar of Stogumber, left
in his will £60 for 'the newe bewylding of the
clawsta of the abbey of Clif.' The house was
visited preparatory to its dissolution in the
autumn of 1535 by Dr. John Tregonwell under
orders from Cromwell, and on leaving the
monastery for Cornwall he gave injunctions to
Abbot Dovell not to depart from his convent.
So Dovell wrote on 8 November 1535 (fn. 26) to
Cromwell to say how Tregonwell 'hathe by
ynjunction commanded me and all my convent
to kyype withyn the precyncts of our monasterie
the whiche yff I shulde not sometymes see for
the provysyon of my pour house being of small
landes I cannot be abyll to mayntayne my seyd
house nor observe or kype hospitalyte . . . and
also I have lycens and commandment of my
lord of Bath to preche at certayne places withyn
the Dyocese yff yor goodness wyll so suffer me.'
In 1536 (fn. 27) Tregonwell wrote himself to Cromwell to let him have at a convenient rent, whereby
he may have some help towards his living and
feeding of his wife and children, one of certain
underwritten monasteries in Somerset, specifying Bridgwater and Cleeve.
In 1537 (fn. 28) the monastery had not yet been
dissolved when Sir Thomas Arundell, the king's
receiver, wrote to Cromwell —'riding downward to Cornwall and passing the monastery of
Clyffe, hearing such lamentation for the dissolution thereof, and a bruit in the country
that the king at your lordship's suit had pardoned it, I sent to Mr. Chancellor of the Augmentations to know whether to dissolve it as I
had his letters for the dissolution of the residue
of Somerset and it seemed to be omitted by
oversight, he being very busy. I beg in behalf
of the honest gentlemen of that quarter that
the house may stand. In it are seventeen
priests of honest life who keep hospitality.'
The house however fell that spring, and the
abbot William Dovell received a pension of 40
marks, (fn. 29) and John Webbe, the 'sub-prior,' received an annuity of £4 3s. 10d., and thirteen
monks received as a present (pro regardo suo)
26s. 8d. Among these was John Hooper, who
was probably the same as John Hooper, Bishop
of Gloucester, burnt as a heretic at Gloucester
in 1555.
In 1543 we find £8 paid to John Webbe, (fn. 30)
'sometyme religious,' for his year's pension.
In February 1556 (fn. 31) the abbot's name still
appears in Cardinal Pole's pension list in receipt
of his 40 marks yearly.
On 30 January 1538 (fn. 32) Robert, Earl of Sussex,
was granted the reserved rent and the site of
the abbey which was then held on a lease of
21 years by Anthony Busterd and the same
of the chapel and ground of St. Mary of Cleeve.
The abbey of Cleeve was not a wealthy abbey.
In the Valor of 1535 (fn. 33) it is entered as only worth
£155 9s. 5d. The original grant consisted of the
lands, liberties and customs which William de
Roumara possessed at Cleeve. These included
the hamlets of Lindon, Bilbrook, Washford,
Hungerford, Golsencott, Roadwater, Leigh and
Binham. Then by arrangement with the abbey
of Bec the monks became the perpetual lessees
of the rectory and advowson of Old Cleeve.
This was confirmed by Bishop Savaric, and
therefore belongs to the period 1192–1205.
About the same time Hubert de Burgh, Earl
of Kent, gave to the abbey the church of East
Camel and land in Rougham in Norfolk, and
a small freehold in Cleeve and his manor of
Poughill near Bude, and Treglaston in Cornwall near Otterham. (fn. 34) Immediately afterwards
Reginald de Mohun gave the monks his land at
Shortmansford and Slaworth. To this Henry III
added his manor of Braunton (fn. 35) near Barnstaple
in Devonshire, the monks at first taking it to
farm at a yearly rent of £22.
In the Taxatio of 1291 (fn. 36) the temporalia are
declared as consisting of the manors of Braunton,
Treglast and Poughill in the diocese of Exeter,
and the manor of Binham in the parish of
Cleeve in the diocese of Bath and Wells.
In 1535 the Valor (fn. 37) records the possessions
of the abbey as consisting of the manors of Old
Cleeve, Treborough, Brown in Treborough
and Sandell, and manorial rights in Luxborough
and Clatworthy, and rents from lands at East
Oaktrowe and West Oaktrowe, Smallcombe,
Northcombe, Dunster, Marsh, Carymore Mede,
Watchet, Bagborough, Blackford and West
Anstey, Walworthy, Bristol and Taunton, and in
the counties of Devon and Cornwall the manors
of Braunton Abbots, Poughill and Treglaston.
The spiritualia consisted of the lease of the
rectory of Old Cleeve, out of which 40 marks
had to be paid to the canon holding that prebend in the cathedral church of Wells, the
rectory of East or Queen Camel and the rectory
of the Island of Lundy, valued this year as
worth 10s. annually.
Out of the endowments of the abbey the
monks were bound to distribute £25 a year in
alms to the poor.
Abbots of Cleeve
Ralph, first abbot, occurs 1198 (fn. 38)
Hugh (fn. 39)
William, occurs 1219 (fn. 40)
John, occurs 1237 (fn. 41)
Symon, occurs 1253 (fn. 42)
John, occurs 1255 (fn. 43)
Henry, occurs 1297 (fn. 44)
Richard le Bret, elected 1315 (fn. 45)
Robert de Clyve, elected 1321 (fn. 46)
Michael, occurs 1342 (fn. 47)
James, occurs 1344 (fn. 48) ; 1367 (fn. 49)
John, occurs 1400 (fn. 50)
John Mason, occurs 1407 (fn. 51)
John Plympton, occurs 1416 (fn. 52)
Leonard Lythenerstoke, occurs 1416 (fn. 53)
William Seylake, elected 1419 (fn. 54)
John Stone, elected 1421 (fn. 55)
David Juyner or Joyner, elected 1435 (fn. 56)
Humphrey, occurs 1486 (fn. 57)
Henry, occurs 1494 (fn. 58)
John Paynter, 1506 (fn. 59)
William Dovell, elected 1507, (fn. 60) surrendered
1537
The vesica-shaped seal, 1¾ in. by 1¼ in., of
David Juyner, Abbot of the Cistercian house of
St. Mary at Cleeve (fn. 61) (c. 1435), has a figure of
Our Lady crowned and seated on a throne,
holding the Child on her right knee. Below
under an arch the abbot with his staff kneels in
prayer. To the left of him is a shield of England with a label. To his right are the arms
of the abbey, seven lozenges. The legend is:—
S' DAVID JUYNER ABBATIS DE CLEYUA.