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How did the community acquire its lands
and possessions?
(3/15)
The abbey acquired its lands and
possessions in a number of ways and was reliant on the generosity
of its founder, Earl Henry
de Lacy, and his network of family, friends and tenants. Although
Henry was the greatest land-holder in the Leeds area, he was not
the most generous donor of land. Nevertheless, he encouraged his
tenants to support the new community. In his foundation charter
of 1147, Henry appealed to his men, twenty-five of whom appear
as witnesses, to support the foundation at Kirkstall. His words
were evidently heeded since a number of the abbey’s benefactions
at this time came from Henry’s tenants. Indeed, it was reputedly
at Henry’s instigation that his tenant, William de Peitevin,
gave the site at Kirkstall to the monks. This core of support from
the de Lacy network meant that many of the community’s acquisitions
at this time were within the Lacy fee, the head of which was at
Pontefract. These included holdings in Darrington, Seacroft, Stapleton
and Smeaton, which lay within a few miles of Pontefract Castle.
Significantly, the presence of three other religious houses near
Pontefract, namely, the Augustinian priory of Nostell, and the
Cluniac priories of Pontefract (a Lacy foundation) and Monk Bretton,
did not deter those living near Pontefract from making grants to
their lord’s more remote foundation at Kirkstall. Thanks
to the generosity of the Reineville family, who were leading tenants
of the Lacy’s, the monks acquired extensive interests in
Bramley and Armley, near Leeds. The most distant of the Lacy lands
lay at the Yorkshire / Lancashire border. They included places
such as Accrington and Cliviger, where the community established
an important grange.
Earl Henry’s son and heir, Roger (d. 1193/4) was a more liberal
benefactor than his father and contributed, in particular, to the
abbey’s holdings at Snydale; he also gave substantial land
in the forest of Bowland, on the River Hodder, an area renowned
for the breeding of horses.(5) In the late thirteenth century Kirkstall
extended its acquisitions here through the benefactions of John
de Lacy.
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