Staffordshire; Henry VIII (King of England and Ireland, 1491-1547); Dissolution of the Monasteries. Indenture on vellum between William Grafton, abbot of Rocester cathedral priory, Staffordshire, and John Forman of Marston Park, Derbyshire, 12 May 1538, whereby John agrees to pay ‘ten shillings of lawfull money of Yngland at the feast of Seynt John Baptyst’ for a term of 70 years for the use of ‘pasture called Denston Ryddyngs’, 260 x 284 mm, wax seal of the abbey of Rocester appended (abbot standing in canopied niche on left; eight canons surmounted by estoile on right; some loss), a couple of marginal tears (qty: 1)

‘Although under the terms of the Act of 1536 the abbey was liable to dissolution, by March 1538 exemption had been purchased for £100. Nevertheless in August of the same year Cranmer wrote to Cromwell urging that commissioners be sent to suppress Rocester … Action followed quickly, and in September Abbot Grafton and eight other canons surrendered the monastery with all its possessions … An account has survived of the sale of St. Michael's Chapel, Rocester, in October 1538 ... The glass and iron in its windows were sold to John Forman for 3s. 4d.’ (Victoria County History, Stafford, volume 3, pp. 247-251).