By deed No. 50, Ranulph, Earl of Chester, gives to the Abbey “his servant Roger, son of Thoreword of Sibsey, with all his property and chattells.” Here the man himself is treated as part and parcel with the chattells.
By deed 69, Gaufrid of Kirkby gives certain lands “ad chorum ecclesiæ aspergendum et decorandum,” i.e. for washing and decorating the choir.
Deed 75 conveys to the Abbey another servant, Radulph, son of Gamel the Palmer, with goods and chattells. The father here mentioned had evidently made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
Deed 78 gives to the Abbey “the homage of Gaufrid Le Neucume of Stickney and all his service.” Here, (temp. Henry III.) is one of the family of Newcome, or Newcomen, who, centuries later, became connected by marriage with the Banks family, in the person of the grandfather of Sir Joseph Banks.
By No. 108, Hugo de Lindsey gives one selion of land to maintain one candle burning before the altar of the blessed Virgin in the Chapel of St. Lawrence, (temp. Henry III. or Ed. I.)
By No. 115, William of Stickney gives land for the maintenance of candles to be kept burning in the Abbey church, one before the altar of the blessed Virgin, in honour of St. Margaret, and the other at the altar of St. Nicholas, in honour of St. James the Apostle.
By No. 141, the Abbot leases land in Wilksby (A.D. 1344) to John Hardegray, who is to pay “unum granum piperis” (pepper corn rent), annually at Christmas.
By No. 144, the Abbot and Convent grant to Richard Cave of Stickney certain land on payment of 8 silver pence annually. (2 Hen. V. Jan. 25, 1415.)
Then follows finally at the Dissolution, deed No. 150A, by which John, Abbot of Revesby, and the convent, grant (Nolentes Volentes) to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and his heirs, and assigns, the office of chief steward of the manors, lands, etc., of the Abbey, with an annuity of £26 3s. 8d. (Harleyan Charter, 44, Brit. Mus.)
This was the beginning of the end. The monks, who, with all their faults, had preserved for us our Bibles, had been the great patrons of learning, the friends of the poor, the teachers of agriculture, who had maintained our bridges and our roads, were forced to accept pittances smaller than those they had, on a generous scale, dealt out to thousands of others. To Charles, Duke of Suffolk, were granted the Abbey estates in 1539. He died in 1545, and was buried at Windsor. His two sons both died in one day, July 16th, 1551, at the Bishop of Lincoln’s house at Buckden. The Dukedom descended to the Marquis of Dorset, who had married the half-sister of Charles. The estates were divided, in 1552, among the descendants of Sir William Brandon. They were Sir Henry Sidney, Knight; Thomas Glemham, Esq.; John Carsey, Esq.; and Francis his son by Margaret his wife, sister to Charles Brandon; Christian Darnell, widow; Walter Ayscoughe, Esq.; and Henry Ayscoughe his son by Elizabeth his wife; and John Tyre, gentleman, and Elizabeth his wife.