Lilleshall Abbey

A persistent tale, possibly stemming from William Dugdale, the pioneering 17th century historian of Britain's monasteries, claims that there was an Anglo-Saxon church at Lilleshall, dedicated to St Alkmund.

It seems that legends of early Lilleshall have developed by confusion with the collegiate church of St Alkmund in Shrewsbury, which was dissolved to provide the funding for the abbey.

More recent accounts, from Robert William Eyton's of 1856[3] to the Victoria County History of 1973,[4] entirely skip the Anglo-Saxon period and set the origins of the monastery securely in the years 1145–8, during the reign of King Stephen.

[7] Together with a local hermit called Roger or Ruggerius,[6] they established a monastic cell and an oratory, dedicated to the Holy Trinity and St Nicholas.

After Heldemar's death on 13 January 1097, reports of miracles and the aura of martyrdom quickly led to recognition of his holiness, enhancing the status of the embryonic monastery.

[9] Under their third leader, Richer, Arrouaise Abbey developed relationships with the nobility of northern France, establishing a cemetery in which to inter their benefactors.

[10] However, it was under Gervais, a former secretary to Eustace III, Count of Boulogne, elected its head in 1121,[11] that the Arrouaise community became an important reforming force within the Augustinian order.

[13] The first such monastery in England was Dorchester Abbey, Oxfordshire, founded around 1140 by Alexander of Lincoln, the local bishop, who suppressed a college of secular clergy to make way for the regular canons.

This was expedited by Richard Belmeis, who seems to have been considerably younger than his brother and had been ordained as a deacon in order to take full possession his offices and estates only in 1128.

At the Domesday survey these had been in the possession of a Norman priest called Godebold (after whom Preston Gubbals is named), apparently a crony of the regional magnate, Roger Montgomery.

The country was in the grip of the Anarchy of King Stephen's reign, so great care was taken to ensure assent from a range of powerful interested parties.

Late in the 12th century, for example, John Lestrange, a local baron with holdings further afield, got into a dispute with Ramsey Abbey over the church at Holme-next-the-Sea in Norfolk.

In the mid-15th century, there were over twenty household servants, including two porters, a butler, a chamberlain, two cooks, a baker, a bell-ringer, a cobbler, and washerwoman, as well as a carpenter and a group of apprentices to carry out repairs.

Both this and the increasingly unfavourable agrarian conditions and labour market of the 14th century meant that direct exploitation of demesnes was gradually reduced in favour of leasing out land.

In 1269 the abbot was given the right to hold an annual fair at Atcham: lasting three days, it took place at the feast of St Giles, which is 1 September.

They made much larger benefactions to Haughmond Abbey, which was only a short distance from Lilleshall, had a similar regime, and, not being a royal foundation, was much more responsive to their needs.

Around the same time, a jury commissioned by John Biset, Justice in Eyre, decided the abbot need not expeditate his dogs (i.e. remove their claws), as his lands were originally of the royal demesne.

[4] This coincided with the episcopate of Roger Northburgh, a very effective administrator and a zealous reformer, who sought out abuses all over the Diocese of Lichfield, and the incumbency of Abbot John of Chetwynd, a particularly turbulent cleric.

Unlike the nearby White Ladies Priory, a community of Augustinian canonesses, where Northburgh made a litany of complaints about conduct and discipline,[58] Lilleshall was criticised almost entirely for financial ineptitude and administrative weakness.

He highlighted the large number of corrodies, waste of timber on abbey lands, the inefficiency of the brewer, negligence in distributing alms at the gate and the age and infirmity of the abbot.

Warrants were issued for the arrest of both of them but, although Ipstones was apprehended, Chetwynd escaped and went to ground, evading several attempts to bring him to court, and the matter seems to have lapsed.

In 1321 he again evaded justice by the simple expedient of not answering the summons, when the king prosecuted him for falsely claiming immunity from tolls and harbour dues in London.

[60] Despite his criminal history, when he retired in 1330, Chetwynd was allowed the revenues of two manors, Blackfordby and Freasley, and of two churches, as well as his food, fuel, candles, two horses, a capacious lodging at the abbey and hospitality for his guests.

John of Gaunt's indisposition a few days later brought unexpected relief, as he made a large monetary gift during his stay, as well as putting his influence at the abbey's disposal.

Watson was given a pension of £50 and the London house[4] or, according to Walcott's transcription of the Court of Augmentations record, the “mansion of Longdon, wyth on acre of grounde ajoynyng to the seid mansion, and competente tymber for the reparacion of the samehouse, and also sufficient fyer woode duryng hys lyfe.”[63] The canons were granted pensions of £5 to £6 each and a small lump sum as a “reward” on leaving – generally 50 shillings.

Altogether, the sale of contents fetched £74 18s.,[64] although the bells, substantial amounts of plate and lead roofing remained initially unsold.

[68] However, he had no time to improve matters, as he died without issue less than two years later, leaving still further massive debts, as he was accused of stealing the contents of a captured carrack.

This western end was finished comparatively late, in the 13th century, and the round arch of the doorway is meant to complement the earlier work visible through the portal.

Moving through the gateway, it is possible to climb a narrow staircase on the north wall of the nave to the level of the arcade, thus obtaining a good view of the remains of the church and of the landscape beyond.

There were many buildings further west and south, and the abbey's guest facilities must have been very large to accommodate visitors of very high status, with their enormous retinues.