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Kirkstall's monks after the Dissolution
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What happened to the former monks of Kirkstall?
It has been calculated that the average age of the community was
43 years: most of the monks were aged between 40-49, three were
over seventy and eight between 25-29.(1) At
least two members of the community resided on property formerly
belonging to the monastery: Abbot John, a sober man who spoke
little, was said to have spent the remainder of his days
in the gate-house of the abbey; Thomas Bartlett, a Leeds man, lived
at Allerton Grange(2)until his death
in 1542.(3) Two of Kirkstalls
vicarages, Aldbrough and Hollym in Holderness, may have been held
by Thomas Ellis and John Lister, former monks of the abbey.(4) The
communitys names appended to the surrender deed suggest
that a number of the monks originally came from within a twenty-mile
radius of the abbey, and it seems that the majority of them settled
in the Leeds vicinity after the closure of their abbey.(5)
For example, Anthony Jackson, former bursar of the abbey, served
as curate of Horsforth and later of Otley; Thomas Bartlett, Richard
Ellis and Edward Heptonstall (Pomfret) were priests of Leeds and
Gabriel Lofthouse, one of the monks accused of sodomy in 1535-6
by Layton and Legh, was chaplain of Richmond and buried in the porch
of the parish church there. Gabriel evidently led a rather frugal
life for his will of 1552 lists his possessions as simply his bedding,
a long gown, a wooden spoon tipped with silver and just over a guinea.
In contrast, Thomas Pepper of Bramley seems to
have enjoyed a life of relative comfort. Following the Dissolution,
Pepper, a junior monk of the abbey, was rector of Adel. Although
he received an annual pension of only £5 from the abbey, Pepper
inherited his fathers lands at Bramley; his own purchases
included Weetwood ironworks, which had belonged to Kirkstall and
leased to Robert Neville sixteen months before the surrender of
the abbey; they remained in Nevilles possession until 1542.(6)
Peppers will of 1553 suggests that he had by this time accumulated
a substantial fortune, for he left £86, ten gold angels, and
forgave his debtors the £20 owing to him; he also had two
men servants and three female servants.(7)
Whilst most of the community seem to have settled in the Leeds vicinity,
some may have travelled further afield. The ex monk of Kirkstall,
Thomas Moke, may have been Thomas Moke of Cardinham, Cornwall, who
was vicar of Hatfield, London, and chaplain to Henry VIIIs
queen, Catherine Parr.(8) At least
one former member of Kirkstall, Edward Sandall, antagonised the
authorities. Sandall was initially a chantry priest at York and
later earned a living teaching boys, but did so without the licence
of the archbishop of York. He openly aired his hostility to the
new religious establishment and in 1568 Sandall was brought before
the archbishop of York as a misliker of established religion,
who continued to pray to the saints and read romances instead of
Scripture; Sandall denied all charges save the last and was sent
to York Castle as a recusant.(9)
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