on, Maister Croke might have been enabled to become the purchaser of a considerable estate. But the dissolution of the monasteries opened a new scene of wealth to those who " Pannus et furfura, and pannus et sandallus, are the words of the Rolls, for all such allowances were made by wan-ant on record. s A treatise of the Maisters of the Chauncerie, written probably between 1596 and L60S. Published by Hargrave. Tracts, p. 314. vol. 1. » Stat. 1 Jac. I. cap. 10. Abuses and Remedies of Chancery, by Norbury, in Hargrave's Tracts, vol. i. p. 428. chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 401 had interest enough to obtain the gift, or the purchase, of the religious houses. The necessities of the King induced him to sell, by one extensive commission, a considerable part of their possessions for his immediate relief. The great quantity of land which came to market, the few persons who could command sufficient sums of ready money to become purchasers, and the pressure of the King's wants, which required an expeditious sup- ply, occasioned them to be sold at a rate very inferior to their real value, and great numbers of persons raised large fortunes from this fruitful source. In the year 1529, Master Croke purchased the estate and manor of Chilton, with lands in Wootton, and Hamme, in the county of Bucking- ham, of Lord Zouch. Easington, where his ancestor had settled in the reign of Henry the Fourth, was in that parish, which probably lead to the purchase. In the time of Edward the Confessor, Afric Fitz Goding held Chilton, and Easington 2 . At the Conquest it was taken from him, and given to Walter Gifford, and Ciltone and Hesington were two distinct manors. Walter Gifford was cousin to William the Conqueror, Earl of Longeville in Normandy, and Earl of Buckinghamshire. He had vast possessions, and his son founded Nutley Abbey, in the parish of Long Crendon. Chilton descended to that branch of the Giffords, who had the name of Bulbec, or Bolebec, and lived at their castle at Whitchurch in Buckinghamshire. Other families had possessions at Chilton, as Paganus de Dourton, Geoffrey de Sancto Martino, Hampden, and Grenville ; holding I suppose of the chief Lord of the fee. In 1468, William Lord Zouch, of Haringworth in Northamptonshire, was seized of this manor : and it continued in his family till it was purchased by Master Croke a . The conveyance is dated on the 10th day of May, in the twenty-first year of the reign of Henry the Eighth, 1529. The consideration paid was five hundred marks : a yearly rent is excepted of £6. 13s. id. payable to the wife of Sir Christopher Garnyes, Knight, and before wife of Sir John Risley, for her life. It is covenanted that the premises are of the yearly 1 Brown Willis. a Delafield's History of Chilton, a manuscript in the Bodleian Library, printed Dr. Bliss's edition of Rennet's Parochial Antiquities. 3 F 402 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iv. value of ^19- 13s. id. above all charges, and a fine was levied to complete the title b . And after the suppression of the monasteries, Henry the Eighth, in the thirty-third year of his reign, 1541, for the sum of two hundred and twenty- five pounds and five shillings, sold to John Croke and Prudence his wife, the manor of Canon Court, in Chilton, lately parcel of the monastery of Nokley, lately dissolved, as amply as it was enjoyed by Richard Rigge the last Abbot. By the same letters patent, were granted an estate at Merlake, which will be hereafter mentioned, and a house, with a garden on the west side of it, in Chancellor Lane, in London, which had both be- longed to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem . Upon the acquisition of this estate, Mr. Croke erected the mansion-house of Chilton, which became the principal seat of the family. It was built in the form of an H. In the middle of the front, facing the great entrance, was a porch, embattled, and covered with lead, which advanced some feet from the house, and was ascended by steps. On its face, just over the outward door, this inscription in capital letters was cut into the stone, al- luding to the turret, iehova turris mea, "The Lord is my tower." In the windows were many coats of arms of the family, and their con- nexions, in painted glass. There was likewise a gallery. The old house was altered, modernized, and new fronted by Richard Carter, Esquire, the subsequent owner of the estate, in 1740 d . But the area, and the spacious dimensions of the old house, may even now be ascertained from the two extremities of the original building, which are still subsisting, and are dis- tinctly marked : on the north side, by two chimneys, and a good part of the wall, which are in an ancient style, the brick work being in diamonds of two colours ; and, at the south end, by a Gothic door-way and window. All the bedrooms are still covered with old wainscot in small pannels, some of them of an ancient pattern, like scrolls of paper. I remember a fine stone gate-way, which formed the entrance from the street, consisting of a large arch for carriages, and a smaller by the side of it. Over it were carved these sentences in capital letters, da gloriam deo. deus non deseret. "Give the glory to God. God will not forsake us." And above, in carved work, pierced through the stone, omnia desuper, " Studley Chartulary, fol. 22. and f. 24. c The Grant in Studley Chart, fol. 17- d Dekfield's History of Chilton. chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 403 " All things from above." Which last sentence, probably suggested by this inscription, is written on the picture of Sir John Croke, the Judge. This gateway was pulled down by Sir John Aubrey. Ten years after his first purchase of Chilton, in the year I^39 5 he bought of Henry the Eighth the Priory of Studley, with all the possessions which belonged to it, for the sum of one thousand, one hundred, and eighty-seven pounds, seven shillings, and eleven pence e . It appears that he sold off all the distant estates of the Priory, and retained only the house, and manors, and other rights in the parish of Beckley. The Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem were suppressed by the Act of Parliament passed in the thirty-second year of Henry VIII. 1541. In the same year, together with the manor of Canon Court, and the house in Chancery Lane before mentioned, the King sold to John Croke, and Pru- dence his wife, a messuage called Merlake, in the parish of Beckley, in Buckinghamshire, parcel of the late Preceptory of Sandford, in Oxfordshire, lately belonging to the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, with all their other possessions, and manorial rights there : to hold in capite by the ser- vice of the thirtieth part of a knight's fee, rendering three shillings yearly'. Master Croke in London lived at a house in Fleet Street, called the Charyate, or Chariate, and which had a garden to it. He purchased this house, which was already in his possession, with two others adjoining it, in the year 1541. The sellers were Richard Holte, Citizen and Merchant- Taylor, and Thomasine his wife. The premises are described as all that messuage, called the Charyate, with two messuages and a garden adjoining, in which said messuage called the Chariate he now dwelleth. The consi- deration was 5^140, of which ^£60 was paid at the time of purchase, and the remainder by half yearly installments. Reciprocal bonds of two hun- dred marks each were given for the performance of the covenants, and the next year a recovery of the estate, which was freehold, was suffered in the Court of Hustings^-'. See the History of the Priory of Studley, inserted after the account of Master John Croke. ' The Grant, penes me. Studley Chartulary, fol. 17. s Copies of the Deeds, in the Studley Chartulary, fol. 34 to 40. 3 F 2 404 JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. book iv. Master John Croke, or le Blount, died upon the 2d of September, in the year 1554, and is buried at Chilton, in a chapel adjoining the chancel, and which is still the burying place of the family. His monument is a flat stone in the pavement, with the following inscription in the old black letter, written on brass plates, and on a fillet round the stone. It does not men- tion his age, which leaves the time of his birth uncertain. (At the head,) g>tt grain* Iw stomnus tamm ipse rrsmrgrrf sperat iHannoito rlausus; Cronies in Ijor tumulo. (At the feet,) (©tit ttmrnt Bomtmtm sucrabmmt tn Qonnno. gfojutor forum ft protrrtor rorum est. (Round the sides of the stone, on the fillet,) imt Inrtl) bttrirti 3obn Crokr tbt eartur, sumtpnw one of tht sir Clrdtps of tl)f Upsgs! Comtt of tftf Cnannrrrp, arib afttrtoart (one of) tlje 0fotettt& of tnc eiard Cbannm-p, (lul)trl) Stolm) UruaitrtJ tljf stronTj Da)) of September, in tftr pro of ottre 2.orOe <§oti, MCCCCCLIIII. b. The coat of arms on a brass plate is, a fesse between six martlets, with a crescent on the fesse ; without any quartering, or impale- ment. It is not known whether he left any children besides his son and heir, Sir John Croke. I have a picture of an old man with a sensible look, which may probably be intended for him. Over the porch of the house at Studley are his arms, in stone, Croke, as before, with the crescent ; quartered with Heynes, and impaled with Cave, fretty, the colour of course not designated. The present family of Cave still bears azure, fretty, argent : and for a crest, on a wreathe, a greyhound currant sable. On an escroll, proceeding from his mouth, for a motto, Gardez, alluding to the name, Cave, Beware. His will is as follows, which was proved the 18th of October, 1555, on the oath of William Walker, Proctor of the Executor. ^s^%^ 1** A MB chap. ii. JOHN CROKE, alias LE BLOUNT. 405 IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN, the xi day of June, in the yere of our Lorde God a thousand, fyve hundredth, fiftie and fower; and in the firste yere of the reigne of our sovereign Lady Quene Mary : I John Croke, of Chilton, th' Elder, make my Testament and last Will in this wise followinge. First, I bequeath my soule unto Almightie Godd, and my bodye to the erthe to be buried in Christian buriall. I bequeath to every of my servants, men and women, a blacke lyvery, at seven shil- linges or eight shillinges the yarde ; the men to have coates, and the women gownes, as speedily after my decease as may be provided. And I bequeath to Thomas Springe fortie shillinges : to Oswald thre poundes : to Smewyn fortie shillings: to Stephen fortie shillings: to Meade fortie shillings : to Arthure fortie shillings : to Henry Chilton fortie shillings : to Henry the Bruer fortie shillings: and to Frances fortie shillings. I bequeath to Byrdesey twentie shillings : to the Miller twentie shillings : to Hawkyns twentie shillings : to Thomas the Carter twentie shillings : to John Chapman twentie shillings : to Alyanor Adys fortie shillinges : to Sibill fortie shillings : to Amye twentie shillinges : to Johan Lovell twentie shillings : to Allice twentie shillinges : to Johan Maygott tenne shillinges. I bequeath to John Coventree thre pounde six shillinges eight pence, and a black gown at tene shillinges the yarde: and to Sir Rauffe fortie shillings, and a blacke gowne of tenne shillinges the yarde: and to Mighell twentie shillinges. I bequeath to Jack twentie shepe: and to Robyn twentie shepe, and kepinge for them in Adingrove, or ellswhere sufhcientlie, so longe as they shall contynue in service with my sonne, and my daughter, or at their bestowinge. I bequeath to Roger, the boye in my kitchin, twentie shillinges: and to Alexander xx*-: and to Norrice xx«- I bequeath to Anne Hunt tenne powndes : and to my cosin Anne Mason thre pownde, six shillings, eight pence : and to her sister Wise fortie shillinges : and to Prudence Mason that fyve pownde which my wife willed unto her, and xxxiii*. im rf - of my bequest besides :