themselves and much of its other landed property. The Manor remained
in the hands of the Hoby family for many years, and was one of Sir
Philip's principal seats. Freestone from the Abbey ruins seems to have
been largely used for additions probably made in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth, for in some alterations I made about 1888, I found many
carved and moulded stones, built into the walls, evidently the remains
of arches from an ecclesiastical building, and Sir Philip Hoby is
known to have treated the Abbey ruins as if they were nothing better
than a stone quarry.

Leland, who by command of Henry VIII. visited Evesham very soon after
the Dissolution, says that there was "noe towene" at Evesham before
the foundation of the Abbey, and the earliest mention of a bridge
there is recorded in monastic chronicles in 1159.

There is a notice of a Mr. Richard Hoby, youngest brother of Sir
Philip, as churchwarden in 1602, and a monument, much dilapidated, is
to be seen in the chancel of Badsey Church, erected to the memory of
his wife and that of her first husband by Margaret Newman, their
daughter, who married Richard Delabere of Southam, Warwickshire, in
1608. Aldington afterwards became the property of Sir Peter Courtene,
who was created a baronet in 1622.

Another explanation of the origin of the carved and moulded stones
mentioned above may be found in the former existence of a chapel at
Aldington, for there is evidence that a chapel existed there
immediately before the Dissolution. In an article in Badsey Parish
Magazine by Mr. E.A.B. Barnard, F.S.A., brought to my notice by the
editor, the Rev. W.C. Allsebrook, Vicar, details are given of the will
of Richard Yardley of Awnton (Aldington), dated January 22, 1531, in