Gents Mag 1823 part 2 p.516

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	Gentleman's Magazine 1823 part 2 p.516 and so by that road unto Rasate; and so going down on the other side of the hill to the great stone where they were wont to stand to watch the deer as they passed, and so going down to the River Lowther, and further as far as the division of Rosegill towards the East; and so all along Southward to the top of the hill of Creskeld, and so to Alinbalike. He grants to them also the vale with brushwood in the Eastern part over against their own, stretching along the top of the hill to the house which was William King's, and so to the land which belonged to Matthew de Hepp, and so going down Westward to the said ford of Carlwath. He also grants to them pasture in common with the tenants of Rasate, and pasture at Thamboord, and at Swindale on both sides, (to the top of Binbash on one side, and on the other side beyond Thengeheved) for 60 cows, 20 mares to run in the woods, and 500 sheep, with their young till the age of three years; and for five yoke of oxen; and wood also for the Abbey, timber, fire, hedging, and other necessaries, without the control of his foresters.'- Dugdale's Monasticon, p.594. This Thomas Cospatrick, the founder, died Dec. 7, 1152, and was buried in this Abbey, as were also several of the Veteriponts and Cliffords, who were great benefactors to it. Various messuages and lands, both in Westmoreland other counties, were given to this Abbey by numerous individuals. At the time of the dissolution, in 1540, its revenues were valued at 154l. 7s. 7 1/2d. a year. Though the first attack of Henry the Eighth on the Monasteries was by the act he got passed in 1535 to dissolve all whose revenues were under 200l. a year, yet the Abbey of Shap, though under this value, by some means or other suffered not by it. Perhaps the reason might be because the act that year speaks of those which contained under the number of 12 persons, whereas in this Abbey there were 20 religious. Or perhaps Henry Earl of Cumberland, the patron thereof, who was highly in favour with Henry the Eighth, might have interest to save it in that first attack. It surrendered on Jan. 14, 1540, under the act passed 1539 for the suppression of Monasteries. The last Abbot was Richard Evenwode, who for some reason or other signed the surrender of the Abbey by the name of Richard Baggot. Its possessions were granted, in 1544, with the monasteries of Gisburn and Rival, in Yorkshire, to Thomas Lord Wharton, at the yearly rent of 41l. 11s. with reversion in the Crown, which James the First in 1610 granted Philip, Lord Wharton, and his heirs male, with whom they continued till about the year 1730, when they were sold with other Westmoreland estates of the notorious and profligate Duke of Wharton, to Robert Louther, esq. of Mauldsmeaburn, and are now attached to the Lowther estates. In Henry the Eighth's grant of the possession of this Abbey to the Wharton family, were reserved and excepted Sleddale grange, Milbourn grange, and all those lands in Rosegill in the tenure of Thomas Salkeld, and the several lands and tenements in Sleagill, Melkinthorpe, and Great Strickland; and except also the lead and bells in and upon the Church and scite of the said late Monastery, the leaden gutters and pipes, and lead in the windows. Richard Baggot, alias Evenwode, the last abbot, was living in the first year of Queen Mary, i.e. 1553, and enjoyed a pension of 40l. a year. And of the canons and officers there were then surviving 13 person, each of whom had pensions as follows, - Hugh Watsonne, Robert Barlonde, John Addison, Edward Machael, and Edmund Carter, 6l. each; Martin Mackerethe, John Dawston, and Richard Mell, 5l. each; John Bell, 5l. 6s. 8d.; George Ellerston, Anthony Johnson, John Rode, and Ralph Watsonne, 4l. each. The length of the Abbey Church, including the tower, was about 75 yards, outside measure. Its tower, which is yet standing, exhibits a specimen of excellent masonry. It has been built of white freestone, and so exceedingly durable as to preserve the marks of the chisel to this day. Some fragments of the chancel walls, which are washed by the river Louther, also still remain. The ground adjoining the South side of the Abbey Church is coverd with the relics of its cloisters and offices, many of them vaulted underneath. The house here, now occupied as a farm-house, seems to have been one of the offices. About 100 yards below the Abbey are the ruins of an
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