A HISTORY OF LONDON The convent owned two water-mills called ' Crasshe Mills ' in East Smithfield '* by the be- quest of Sir Nicholas de Loveyne in 1375," and the manor of Poplar,*" co. Middlesex ; the manors of Westmill, Meesden, and Little Hor- mead,*^ co. Herts ; the manor and castle of Leybourne," the manors of Wateringbury/' Fowkes," Gore, Bicknor, Gravesend, Parrocks, ' Herber,' and Lenches,*' Swancourt,*' Slayhills Marsh," tenements in Woolwich,** and land in Cobham *' and Rainham,™ co. Kent ; the manors of Gomshall, and Rotherhithe, and land in Ewhurst,'^ co. Surrey. They also possessed the advowsons of St. Bartholomew's by the Ex- change," Westmill,'* Hormead, Meesden," I^id- ley,'* Gravesend, Leybourne, and Bicknor," and received a yearly pension of 40J. from the church of Emley,'* co. Kent. In 1428 the abbot held half a knight's fee in Meesden, and in conjunction with John Tewe two knights' fees in Westmill.'* Abbots of St. Mary of Graces William de Sancta Cruce, occurs 1350^" and 135881 William de Warden, elected 1360,'^ occurs 1402*^ Ranulf, occurs 141 7 ** Paschalis, occurs 1421 *^ and 1422*^ William, occurs 1423 " Valor Eccl. i, 398. Valor Eccl. i, 398. " Ibid. ^ Hasted, H'tst. of Kent, ii, 270. " Add. Chart. 39405. " Ibid. » Ibid. " Valor Eccl i, 398. ^ Hasted, op. cit. ii, 584. " Ibid, ii, 544. ^ Cal. luq. p.m. (Rec. Com.), ili, 162.
- " Hasted, op. cit. i, 501.
" Cal Inq.p.m. Hen. VII, , No. 506. " Valor Eccl (Rec. Com.), i, 398. " Cal oflnq. p.m. Hen. VII, No. 400. " Add. Chart. 39405. " Chauncy, Hist, of Herts. 230. " Newcourt, Repert. Eccl Lond. , 837, 847. '* B.M. Chart. Toph 2 ; Hasted, op. cit. i, 281. " Ibid, i, 452 ; ii, 208, 517. " Ibid, ii, 675. " Tend. Aids, ii, 446, 451. ™ He was at first called president. Col. of Pat. 1348-50, p. 560. The title abbot is used in letters patent of 1353. Add. MS. 15664, fol. 146. " Pat. 32 Edw. Ill, pt. I, m. 20 in Add. MS. 15664, fol. 138. " Dugdale, Mon. Angl. v, 7 1 7. " Cal. Pap. Letters, v, 547. " Anct. D. (P.R.O.), A. 1790. »» B.M. Chart. L.F.C. xiv, 27, " Cal. Pap. Letters, vi, 319. " Anct. D. (P.R.O.), B. 2052. John Pecche, died c. 1440^ Robert, occurs 1442-3*' Edmund, occurs 1480 "^ John, occurs 1483," 1503," 1508, and 151 1 '* Henry More, elected 15 16, occurs 1527'* and 1532,^ surrendered 1538'* The common seal of the monastery in the fourteenth century represents the Virgin, crowned, seated in a canopied niche, the Child on her right knee. In a smaller niche with pent roof on the left. King Edward III, the founder, kneels in adoration ; in a similar niche on the right two monks, one offering a book to the Virgin. In the base, on a square carved plinth, a shield of the royal arms of Edward III. Legend : — SIGILLV . COMVNE MONACHOR BEATB MARIE DE GRACIIS An abbot's seal of the fourteenth century "^^ is a pointed oval, and represents the abbot with mitre standing in a canopied niche, with smaller niches at the sides ; he lifts up the right hand in benediction and holds a pastoral staff in the left hand. At each side a shield of arms : left Ed- ward III ; right, per pale, dextra, per fesse, in chief a lion's face, in base a fleur-de-lis, sinistra, a pas- toral staff in pale, for the monastery. Legend wanting. A seal of Abbot Paschal, 1420-21,^°^ is a pointed oval, and bears a representation of the abbot standing in a canopied niche, with smaller niches at the sides. He wears a mitre, and holds in the right hand a pastoral staff, in the left hand a book. At each side a shield of arms : left Edward III ; right. City of London. In the base under a depressed arch, with masonry at the sides, a shield of arms like the shield on the right in the preceding seal. Legend : — SIGILLV : PASCHALIS ! ABBIS : MONASTERII : BtE : MARIE : DE : graciis
- Add. Chart. 39405. It may have been earlier,
for the king in November, 1440, says that the abbey had since John's death been grievously vexed by divers processes out of the Exchequer.
- ' Hardy and Page, Cal. of Lond. and Midd. Fines,
237. " Cal of Pat. 1476-85, p. 215. " Ibid. 1476-85, p. 466. " Madox, Formul Angl. 338. His surname appears to have been Langton. Dugdale, op. cit. v, 717. "' Ct. R. of Meesden in Harl. R. N. 18. •* Ct. R. of Westmill (ibid.). " Lond. Epis. Reg. Fitz James, fol. 64. ^ Harl. Chart. 75 G. 7. " Ibid. 1 1 1 C. 36. ^ L. and P. Hen. VIII, xiii (2), 969. » B.M. Seals, Ixvii, 98. ••» Ibid. 89. "" Ibid. XXXV, 170. 464
