memory of whom they were erected, inherited through Sir Philip Hoby
much of the Abbey land in this district. Early in the seventeenth
century their mansion and estates were purchased by Lord Craven, and
it is to the family of this nobleman that the funereal flags, tabards,
and arms suspended above the monuments, belong.

From Norton church we may return by a field path which leads into and
crosses a lane known as King's Lane, and possibly connected with some
cavalier episode. The hamlet which we see before us is Lenchwick, and
if we take the village street, after passing the lane to Chadbury we
presently come to a steep but short descent with a group of old barns
on our left. Near this spot stood, until about a hundred years ago, a
stately mansion built by Sir Thomas Bigge, whose tomb we have but now
visited.

A letter is still extant from Sir Philip Hoby requesting permission
from the King's agent to purchase stone from the Abbey ruins for
building, and there can be little doubt that this house was
constructed of the same material. By the "irony of fate" this mansion,
born of the spoliation of that institution, in its turn fell a prey to
the destroyer, and fragments of carved stones telling of Elizabethan
days may be found in these and other farm buildings within the area of
the parish.


THE END