Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
Historic%20Yorkshire
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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