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48<br />

BOLTON ABBEY.<br />

Alice gave the Canons ofEmbsay her manor of Boltonin<br />

exchange for their manors of Skibdeen and Stretton, her<br />

son, William — andin a pedigree exhibited to Parliament<br />

in 1315 he is set down as her only son — appears in the<br />

charter as a consenting party to the transaction. For<br />

this reason, Dr. Whittaker conjectures that the legend<br />

refers to one of the two sons of the first foundress,bothof<br />

whom died young; butit may be betterreconciled to the<br />

stubbornpiece of evidence affordedby the charter above<br />

referred to, by supposing that the manor of Bolton had<br />

been exchanged for the convenience of Alice before the<br />

loss of her son, and that subsequentlythe Canons were<br />

glad to find a pretext in her disconsolate sorrow for<br />

descending from the bleak and cheerless heights of<br />

Embsay to the warm and sheltered nook in their newlyacquiredpossession.<br />

To this suppositionisMr.Walbran<br />

inclined, from the fact that neither in this deed of<br />

exchange nor in its confirmation by King Henry II. is<br />

there any allusion or reference to the future dispositionof<br />

their donation; and, in another charter made apparently<br />

soon after, whereby Alice confirmed the grants of her<br />

parents and herself, she states that the translation to<br />

Bolton was made by her " wish, assent, and ordination."<br />

It is in the latterpart of this second charteronly that it<br />

is recited that she " gave to the church of Bolton that<br />

place, and the whole village of Bolton to found there a<br />

church of Canons Regular," and added the donation of<br />

" the place called Stede and the land between Passford<br />

and Speetbek, and the rivers Wharfe and Walkesburn."<br />

' To whatever reason the Abbey owes its present situation,<br />

it has come down to us asaninterestingmementoof<br />

that period of our history when monks and abbotslorded<br />

it overmany a fair estate; and it is the constant resort of<br />

the tourist and antiquary,who, in the solemn quietude of<br />

itsvicinity,findsereneenjoyment andfood for speculation.<br />

On the north side of the Prioryis the cemetery, in which<br />

are many curious and antique tombstoneswell worthy of<br />

inspection. But the chief interest of this place is in

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