Old Hampshire Mapped
Cobbett's Hampshire
Transcription (97)Netley Abbey
Letley Abbey
Laetus Locus
Pleasant Place
Henry III
Benedictine monks
suppresion of monasteries
Paulet Family
Henry VIII
Edward VI
Mary
Elizabeth I
Bolton, Duke of
Winchester, Marquis of
Baring Family
Abbotston
NETLEY ABBEY ought, it seems, to be called LETLEY ABBEY, the Latin name being LAETUS LOCUS, or PLEASANT PLACE. Letley was made up of an abbreviation of the Laetus and of the Saxon word ley, which meaned place, field, or piece of ground. This Abbey was founded by Henry III. in 1237, for 12 Monks of the Benedictine order; and, when suppressed, by the wife-killer, its revenues amounted to 3,200l. a year of our present money. The possessions of these monks were by the wife-killing founder of the Church of England, given away (though they belonged to the public) to one of his court sycophants, SIR WILLIAM PAULET, a man the most famous in the whole world for sycophancy, time-serving, and for all those qualities which usually distinguish the favourites of kings like the wife-killer. This PAULET changed from the Popish to Henry the Eighth's religion, and was a great actor in punishing the papists: when Edward VI. came to the throne, this PAULET turned protestant, and was a great actor in punishing those who adhered to Henry VIIIth's religion: when Queen Mary came to the throne, the PAULET turned back to papist, and was one of the great actors in sending protestants to be burnt in Smithfield: when Old Bess came to the throne, this PAULET turned back to protestant again, and was, until the day of his death, one of the great actors in persecuting, in fining, in mulcting, and in putting to death those who still had the virtue and the courage to adhere to the religion in which they and he had been born and bred. The head of this family got, at last, to be earl of Wiltshire, Marquis of Winchester, and DUKE OF BOLTON. ... ... to go to Abbotston, near Winchester, and survey the ruins of the proud palace, once inhabited by the Duke of Bolton, which ruins, and the estate on which they stand, are now the property of the Loan-maker, Alexander Baring! ...
next
