York Guides

After these alarms and excursions, the rest of the fifteenth century proved to be a period of quiet consolidation and modest prosperity. The long and wise rule of the learned Abbot John Greenwell, despite his uncertain health, restored stability to the convent. Its numbers had now dwindled to thirty monks, with 117 servants and workmen, but the abbot was recognised as a great northern potentate and such granges as Brimham, Baldersby and Thorpe Underwoods were converted into country houses for his use. Abbot Greenwell and Abbot John Darnton, another just and capable administrator, were both Commissaries of the abbot of Citeaux and Reformers of the Cistercian Order in England.

Abbot Huby died in 1526, and by 1530 there were signs that his successor, Abbot William Thirsk, was not a prudent ruler. There is evidence that he was selling abbey timber without consulting the convent, although it would be unwise to place too much reliance on the more picturesque tales of his misdeeds, such as that which represents him taking jewels from the sacristy at dead of night to sell to a Cheapside goldsmith. The events that were the real cause of Abbot Thirsk's downfall started in 1533 when he questioned the authority of Thomas Cromwell, the king's chief minister, over the deposition of the abbot of Rievaulx. This marked him as a man unlikely to be amenable to the king's wishes, and when Dr. Layton and Dr. Legh, the royal agents for the visitation of the monasteries, arrived at Fountains in 1536, they forced the abbot to resign. Provided with a comfortable pension, he went to stay with his friend Abbot Sedbergh of Jervaulx.

His successor, the 39th and last abbot of Fountains, was Marmaduke Bradley, a monk who had been in disgrace in Abbot Huby's time but had been pardoned by Abbot Guillaume du Boisset of Citeaux. He had obtained the prebend of Thorpe in Ripon Minster and the mastership of the hospital of St. Mary Magdalene there. No doubt the visitors saw in him a politic and pliable man who would suit the king's interests, but in this their judgment proved faulty. Abbot Bradley was certainly politic but by no means pliable and he made it clear that, although he had no illusions about the likely fate of his monastery, he was going to protect its interests whilst it lasted and his own thereafter. He not only refused Cromwell's request that he should give up his prebend, but also resisted attempts to transfer the leases of abbey granges to nominees of the king.

The first year of his rule saw the outbreak of the rising in favour of the monasteries, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. Abbot Bradley kept Fountains aloof from this, but his predecessor ex-Abbot Thirsk was less fortunate, for one of the incidents in the rising centred on Jervaulx Abbey where he had been staying. Along with his friend Abbot Sedbergh, Thirsk was accused of complicity in the insurrection, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and found guilty ot treason at Westminster. In June 1537 he was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn.

The abbey was now near its end. The smaller monasteries had already been suppressed, and in January 1538 a visitation of the greater monasteries was started with the express purpose of procuring their surrender. It was a long business, and not until 26th November 1539 did the convent of Fountains gather in the chapter house to surrender their abbey and all its possessions to the king. Pensions were assigned two days later, Abbot Bradley receiving a comfortable £100 a year, Prior Thomas Kydde .£8, and thirty monks sums varying from £5 to £6 13s. 4d.

The wealth that fell into the king's hands was impressive. Fountains was the richest Cistercian monastery in the British Isles, with a clear annual revenue of over £1,000. The inventory of its sacristies reads like a tale of treasure trove; 80 copes amongst a multitude of other vestments, 22 silver chalices, two croziers with silver heads and two mitres encrusted with silver-gilt ornament, reliquaries of St. Anne, St. Lawrence, and the True Cross, and plate amounting to 2,840 oz even without the gold ornaments of the high altar.

Whilst the commissioners were disposing of this for the king's profit, ex-Abbot Bradley retired to the prebend at Ripon that he had so wisely refused to surrender, and there he lived on until 1553, a respected member of the chapter noted for his benefactions to the fabric.