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Roche Abbey holdings: urban properties
(7/7)
Whilst the monks sought seclusion, it was important
and indeed necessary to secure urban properties so that members
of the community had somewhere suitable to stay when travelling
or on business. Roche had holdings in Doncaster, Lincoln, Nottingham
and York. At Doncaster Roger of Flixborough held land of the abbot
and monks for which he was to make an annual payment of 9s 4d and
lodge any monks or lay-brothers
of Roche at their own expense - when they passed through
the town.(12) The abbot had a house in
Lincoln, a town that was at the forefront of commercial activity
in the second half of twelfth century and was also accessible to
trade. The house was worth 10s pa in 1275, but by the time of the
Dissolution it had fallen in value to 4s. In York, another important
centre of trade and commerce, Roche had land leading from the orchard
belonging to the nunnery of St Clement to the River Ouse, for which
they paid the prioress and nuns of St Clement £3. The monks
also had a landing site at Flixborough, in Lincolnshire, for loading
and unloading vessels; this lay between the North and South Stather,
near the mouth of the Humber, which connected them with Hull and
North Sea trade.(13)
Traces of where the monks of Roche had holdings
are still evident in the place-names. At Brancliffe grange, on the
lane leading to the Sheffield and Worksop road, there is a bridge
called Monks bridge, and a road at Little Todwick
is called Roche End.
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