The Remains
of Coggeshall Abbey
By G F
Beaumont, F.S.A.
An extract from Transactions ‘n.s.’ Volume 15 part 1
(1918). This volume is available
exclusively to members in digitized format.
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As
the writer, some 30 years ago,
in his History of Coggeshall,
gave an account of the foundation of the abbey and a description of its remains and our member, Mr.·R. C. Fowler, has recently contributed to
the Victoria History of Essex[1] a thoroughly trustworthy
article on the abbey generally, it is not intended to do more in the present paper than bring
together such information as we have been able to draw from certain documents,
preserved in the Public Record
Office [now The National Archives] and
elsewhere, in so far as they tend to elucidate the
purposes for which the buildings which survived the
general demolition
were appropriated, and to give such further details
concerning the abbey as
have not hitherto been published.
Of the buildings of the Cistercian
monastery of Coggeshall, which
must have been somewhat extensive, there
remain the "mansion," or rather a portion of it, and annexed to it on the south side a narrow building running north and south and consisting of a vaulted passage with a chamber above,
both floors opening into an oblong
building running east and west, and at the south-east corner
of this building, but disconnected from it, another building
with its
longer axis approximately north and south. In addition to these buildings there is the little
chapel of St. Nicholas,
about 200 yards to the west.
The abbey was surrendered on 5th February, 29 Henry VIII. (A.D. 1538), Henry More being at that time abbot or perpetual commendatory, and William Love his immediate predecessor.
On
the 23rd March, 1538, all the possessions of the monastery
were granted by the king to Sir Thomas Seymour. That great destruction of the monastic buildings was shortly afterwards wrought, is clear
from
the fact that Thomas Mildmay, one of the auditors of
the revenues and. augmentations of
the Crown appointed
to survey certain of the lands and possessions of the late monastery
then belonging to Seymour, with a view to an exchange to
be made between him and
the king, reported in April,
in the thirty-first year of Henry VIII. (A.D. 1541), that "the
churche is clene prostrate and defaced, but the cloyster
and lodgings doe yet remayne untouched."[2]
With
regard to the abbey house, anciently called "the mansion," it has been said that it was built by Clement
Smith on the site and out of the materials of the abbey.[3] This
statement is contained in an exceedingly interesting architectural account of the remains of the abbey
by the late Rev. E.
L. Cutts, sometime assistant curate of Coggeshall, and from the foundation of our Society down to 1866 its honorary secretary. The statement would seem
to be incorrect, as Clement Smith,
although the grantee of
Holfield Grange and other estates in the neighbourhood, does not appear to
have ever been possessed of the abbey buildings or precincts,
and from the references to the abbey house in
the documents mentioned below it seems clear that the mansion was erected some years before the dissolution. A comparatively small portion only now remains, and is represented by the more substantial or northern portion of the present building.
The
first allusion we have to the house
is that contained in the will of
Sir John Sharpe, kt.[4] He was a man of considerable worldly possessions, including lands in Essex, the manor of Cartelyng in
Cambridgeshire, and the manor of Brokedysshe Hall
in Norfolk. His will is dated 7th June, 1518,[5]
and by it he gave his mansion and lodging
at Coggeshall Abbey, with the appurtenances and all his years in the same, meaning his lease of it,
and all such copyhold lands on the backside of the same mansion as he held
by copy (i.e., being of copyhold tenure) of the
abbot and convent of Westminster, to Isabel Damme, the wife of Robert Damme of Systed
(? Stisted), for life, and after his death to
his (the testator's) nephew, Robert Browne. After making various other bequests to
Isabel Damme, he
touchingly beseeches "all those
that ever bare me any good
mynde or favor in my lyfe or will doo anything for me when I am goon, that they will be good favourable kynde
and helpynge
unto the said Isabell for she hath ben alweys the
best assured
and the most faithfull fast frende
that ever yet I knewe or cowde fynde in all my lyfe." The will was
proved
the 12th Feb., 1518-19.
Sharpe's lease
having
evidently come to an end, abbot William Love
and the convent on the 6th December, 19 Henry VIII. [1528], granted to
Clement Harleston, esq., a lease[6] for ninety years,
from the previous Michaelmas, of
the "mansion which Sir John Sharpe, kt., late held
within the monastery next to the firmary of the
monks,"together
with all the houses, kitchens, chambers,
garden, etc., annexed, and it may be well now to set forth what other
property was comprised in this lease: if consisted of
a certain stable "of olde tyme called the Tannehouse halle,"[7] with the
chambers thereto annexed; a certain chapel of St. Katherine, with
gardens on both sides of it,
as enclosed by banks and ditches; a dovehouse which had been lately built
within the "Hostry" garden,[8] with a little chamber or
house
called the Gatehouse, between the abbot's stable and the backehouse
(bakehouse) garden; also
two pieces of land called the
Coope, lying together next the river, adjoining to
Hollmeadow on the west and
the lane to Feering Bury on the east, one head abutting on the road to
Colchester on
the north and on land called
Samuels on the south,
with a meadow called the Backehouse meadow lying
next the backehouse of the abbot and convent, with the feeding or pasture called
the Holme thereto annexed; also one little garden
next the Colloquitory on the west
and the mansion on the east. The annual rents reserved were: for
the mansion and appurtenances 9s., for the lands called the Coope 1l.
6s. 4d., for Backehouse meadow and Holme pasture
6s. 8d., and for the
garden next the Colloquitory
2d. Harleston
was restrained from fishing
in the river, and was not to stop the water
in the stream and river, nor to sell his
lease without the licence of the abbot
and convent.
Harleston was afterwards knighted
by Henry VIII.
and died at Boleyn in France, and
his will, nuncupative, made in 1544, was proved
by his son John on 20th May, 1547.[9] It was
he who was invited by the abbot to accompany him to inspect
the great brazen pot which a ploughman while at his work had found in West field,[10] about
three-quarters of a mile from Coggeshall, and belonging to the abbey. “The mouth of the pot was closed with
a white substance like paste or
clay, as hard as burnt brick, and when that by force was removed there
was found within it another pot but that
was
of earth; that being opened
there was found in it a lesser pot
of earth of the quantity of
a gallon, covered with matter
like velvet and fastened at the mouth with a
silken lace: in
it they found some whole bones and many pieces
of small bones, wrapped up in fine
silk of fresh
colour, which the abbot took for the reliques of some
saints and laid up
in his vestuary."[11]
Then
came the dissolution and
the abbey buildings passed to the Crown, but within a
few
weeks Seymour procured a grant of the monastic properties. Although retaining many of the lands, he, about
three years afterwards, arranged an
exchange with the king whereby the site and
precincts of the abbey
again became vested in the Crown.
But
for the
fact that the grant
to Seymour followed so soon after the surrender, we should probably have
found in the Minister's Accounts of the following year
or so, interesting information concerning the destruction of the buildings
and the sale of their contents, similar to that which has been published
by Dr. Gasquet[12]
in reference to the destruction of other monasteries. How
ruthlessly the work was done is thus expressed by Dr. Gasquet: "In the work of wrecking the finest monuments and most costly buildings
which took place all over
the country, there does not appear to have been
any hesitation on the part of Henry or his servants.
There was never
any question
of sparing anything which could not be used for f arm or other purposes, or by the demolition of which a
few pounds might be
added to the sum total of the plunder. At St. Mary's, Winchester, the
superfluous buildings
were church, chapterhouse,
dormitory, fratry,
and those allowed to stand were the superior's lodging with offices." The same words are applicable
to the abbey of Coggeshall, substituting
Harleston's mansion for the
superior's lodging
and adding the other buildings referred
to hereafter.
In
1574 Thomas
Paycocke was possessed
of all the properties which were comprised in
Harleston's
lease.[13] By his will made
on the 20th December, 1580,[14] he gave all his estate, interest,
lease and term of years in Mr. Harleston's house, with 18
acres of ground to the same
belonging, to Richard Binnyon and Anne his wife.
Anne Binnyon or Benyan was
one of Paycocke's daughters.[15] She died
in January, 1603,[16]
and Richard Benyan died 17th November, 1610.
His death was presented at
a Court held for the manor of Feering[17]
on 19th April, 8 James I, he having
held for his life, by right accruing on
his wife's death, lands and
pastures called Jackletts and Samwells, containing 10 acres, which are doubtless the
same lands as
those referred to in Sharpe's will;
and it was also presented that Elizabeth
Stanfield, widow, and Anne Churchman, daughters and co-heirs
of Anne Benyan, were entitled
to this copyhold
property.
Although
Harleston's lease was not due to
expire till 1617, Matthew Bacon had, in the 45th year of Elizabeth [1603],
procured a lease[18] of
all the before-mentioned leasehold and certain other properties comprising the watermill, a chamber adjoining, and the fruits and
profits of the cemetery there, gardens called
Love's garden
and Sandeford 's[19]
garden, and all the waste grounds within the gates and walls of the
late monastery. The lease to Bacon suggests that, after the death of Anne Benyan, her husband left the abbey
house, and it may be that he went to
reside at the Dairy House or
at the Home Grange, as he had a lease of those properties
granted to him in 1599.
On
25th October, 1604,[20] James
I., on the nomination of Sir Henry Bromley, granted
to Ralph Walley and
Thos. Dodd, among other properties, all those
which were comprised in Benyan's lease.
The other properties included a
tenement called the Brewhouse, with pasturage for two cows in the Old Park and 3 roods of land on the south side of Loughridge, at
the bottom of Grange hill, and adjoining the Brewhouse.
On
8th January,
16 Charles I (1647), Robert Offley and others conveyed to Thomas Bromfield and Henry Colbron[21]
the Dairy House, the 'sheepenhouse' and shed, the "Covent Garden" (formerly in one parcel,
but then divided into several: called Hither Covent Garden, Middle Covent
Garden and Further Covent Garden, the Miller's
field[22] and Black Pond field),[23]
also the Park[24] then
divided into the Park, in the occupation of George Nicholls, the Little Park[25] and Beerhouse field,[26] and it is stated that the Covent Garden,
the Park, and the way between
them leading
to the abbey were all anciently used as
one parcel; also Shortlands,[27]
containing 27 acres, and a house built thereon by Giles Hoskins, Holme meadow near the Dairy House, a meadow near the same containing 2
acres 2 roods 0 poles, two watercorn mills ( formerly one)
with the river, stream, etc., thereto belonging,
the dwellinghouse used with the mill, the fruits and profits of the churchyard
near the abbey and the grounds about the abbey which were anciently called
Love's garden
and Stamford's [Samford's] garden, and
the waste grounds within the gates, walls and pales of the abbey, late in the occupation of Mr. Benyan; also the mansion house and houses
within the monastery, formerly
in the occupation of Sir John Sharpe, and
then in the occupation of George Nicholls; also the
buildings
near the abbey called the Tanhouse
hall, with the chamber adjoining;
also St. Katherine's chapel near the abbey
and all the cottages, tenements and buildings erected
on the place where the Tanhouse hall stood, and the gardens and grounds on both sides of the chapel and the banks and ditches which enclosed
the
same; also lands called
the Coope or the Coope fields[28] adjoining Holme mead, containing together 21 acres;
also the overshot mill called Squit mill,[29]
built on part of the lands called the Coope; also
Backhouse mead,[30]
containing 15 acres, adjoining Holme mead; also
Holme mead, containing 9 acres 2
roods 0 poles,
and adjoining the
lands called the Coope; also a cottage built on the Beerhouse field, formerly part of the Park lands.
Colbron, who, it is
recited, was a trustee for Bromfield, released
his estate in the property to
the latter by deed dated 20th May, 1647,[31]
and warranted the title against Dame
Anne Bromley, deceased, presumably the widow of Sir Henry Bromley, on whose nomination the grant was made by James
I. to Wolley and Dodd.
[1] Vol. ii., p. 125.
[2] Rentals
and Surveys, Duchy of Lanc., 7/34·The certificate, No. 7/35, is similar, but
has no reference to the church and
lodgings.
[3] Trans. E.A.S., vol I (o.s.) p.166
[4] Presumably the same person
as John Sharpe, son of Christopher Sharpe, whose lands in Pointell Street the bailiff
of Coggeshall Hall manor was ordered to distrain in
17 Henry VIII. - Duchy of Lanc. Court Rolls, bundle 38,
[5] P.C.C .: 13, Ayloff .
[6] Duchy of Lanc. Rentals and Surveys,
2/11
[7] Robert le Tanhus is mentioned in Pat . Roll , 18th July, 1316.
[8] The hostellary
or guesthouse which was probably near the principal gatehouse which was close to St. Nicholas chapel.
[9] P .C C.: Alen, 36.
[10] This field can be approximately located by reference
to Duchy of Lanc. Court
Rolls, bundle 58, No. 726. It lay south-west of the Home Grange, see
Hist. of Coggeshall, p. 7; also Duchy of Lanc, Surveys, 2/ II,
[11] Camden's Britannia , translated by Holland , p. 449·
[12] Henry VIII, and the English Monastries.
[13] Duchy of Lanc. Rental s and Surveys,
2/11. It has been suggested
that the large gates at Paycock's house in West street were brought from the abbey, and it
seems not improbable that such was the case.
[14] P.C.C.: 50, Arundell
[15] For
Paycocke family see E .A .T ., vol. ix ., p. 311.
[16] Parish Register
[17] Court
Rolls in P.R.O., 174, Nos. 1-5
[18] Duchy of Lanc. Misc., No. 82, fo. 275d
[19] Abbot John Sandeford or Sampford was Love's predecessor.
[20] Duchy
of
Lanc. Misc. Books, No. 85, pp. 358-363.
[21] Close Roll, 23 Charles I., pt. 21, No. 18.
[22] No. 68, 4.461 acres.
[23] No. 69, 5.791 acres
[24] Nos. 53 and 55, and
probably part of No. 52, containing
together about 12 acres.
[25] No. 51, 4.758 acres
[26] No. 50, 3.371 acres.
[27] No. 29, 27.358.
[28] Nos. 266, 267, 265, 58, and parts of 57 and 264.
[29] The old perambulation
of Great Coggeshall
commenced at the angle made by the east and south hedges of Squitts field. The
lower
part of No. 264 is called
Squitts field in
the Tithe Apportionment.
[30] This is probably represented by the field No. 131.
[31] Court Roll, 23 Charles
I., pt 21, No 18
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