which was carried from court to court in England and Rome, and was
finally settled some fifty years later in favour of the Monastery.

The last of the abbots and one of the most striking figures on the
roll was Clement Lichfield. To him we owe much of the architectural
beauty of both the parish churches; and besides erecting the bell
tower he adorned the choir of the "great church," as it was called,
with perpendicular decoration.


THE DISSOLUTION


Philip Hawford cannot be counted on the list of abbots. After having
borne and yielded much, Lichfield resigned, and Hawford was appointed
in his place, merely that he might surrender his charge in due form to
the King, an act to which it was impossible for Abbot Lichfield to
condescend, Hawford afterwards became Dean of Worcester, and there in
the cathedral, in a recess behind the reredos, his effigy may still be
seen, in full abbatial vestments, mitre and staff. Abbot Lichfield was
allowed to retire to the manor house of Offenham, where he died in
1546, and was buried in the lovely chapel he had built in early life
on to the church of All Saints beneath the shelter of his own Abbey.

* * * * *

The story of the Monastery has now come to an end. In 1536 the lesser
priories and monasteries were suppressed, and we can well imagine the
tremor which this daring act of Henry must have sent through the
religious world. We can be sure the blow was unexpected by the monks