style="font-size:15px;"> Advowson to Bell & Broksbye in 35to Hen. 8
Be it remembered that in the charter of our most illustrious lord Henry the Eight, by the grace of God king of England, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, and on earth supreme head of the English and Irish church, made to John Bell and Robert Brokelsby within named, among other things it is thus contained: —
The king to all to whom, &c. greeting. We do also give, for the consideration aforesaid, and of our certain knowledge and mere motion for us, our heirs and successors, do grant to the aforesaid John Bell and Robert Brokelsbye, the advowson, donation, denomination, presentation, free disposition, and right of patronage of the Rectory of Gresmere in our county of Westmorland, which, as parcel of the possessions and revenues of the late Monastery of St. Mary near the wall of the City of York, or otherwise or in any other manner or by any reason whatsoever, has or have fallen, or may fall, into our hands. Witness the king at Walden the twenty-first day of October in the thirty-fifth year of our reign.
This is clearly a copy of but a part of the original charter, and the "consideration" which Henry received does not transpire; but in the following month the two speculators procured a licence to sell again, and they passed over their purchase of the Grasmere advowson, and of all woods upon the premises – meaning no doubt the old demesne of the Lindesay Fee – to Alan Bellingham, gent., for £30 11s. 51⁄2 d.98 Bellingham in the same year purchased direct from the Crown that portion of Grasmere known as the Lumley Fee – thus gaining the lordship of some part of the valley.
Henry's sale of the advowson did not touch the tithes, which were left in the hands of the rector; but he reserved for himself the "pension" of 21⁄2 marks which had been regularly paid out of them to the abbey. It passed down with other Crown property to Charles II., and in his reign was sold, according to an Act of Parliament which was passed permitting the sale of such royal proceeds. Since that time it has been in private hands, and bought and sold in the money market like stocks. It may perhaps be traced by sundry entries in account books, as paid by the tithe-holder: in 1645, "for a pension for Gresmire due at Mich: last" £1 13s. 4d. It was paid in 1729 by Dr. Fleming as "Fee-farm Rent" to the Marquis of Caermarthen; and later by Mr. Craike to the Duke of Leeds; while Sir William Fleming, as owner of the tithes of Windermere, paid the same from them.99 It is still paid through a London agent, being officially set down as "Net Rent for Grasmere, £1. 6s. 8d.: Land tax, 6s. 8d." This sum represents – not five marks – but five nobles, or half-marks. Thus it may be said that the dead hand of Henry VIII. still controls the tithes of Grasmere.
This tyrant wrought other changes for Grasmere. When creating the new diocese of Chester, he swept our parts of Westmorland within it. The archdeaconry of Richmondshire remained, but the archdeacon was shorn of power. He no longer instituted our parson, as in the days prior to the rule of St. Mary's Abbey, and this empty form fell to the Bishop of Chester; who, on the death of parson Holgill in 1548, appointed to the office one Gabriel Croft, upon nomination by the patron.100
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