Dating DH Lawrence's story "A Fragment of Stained Glass" to precisely 1538-39

The "Ruby Glass" manuscript from 1907
which was published as "A Fragment of Stained Glass"

"Well Bert, it's the first, but I hope it won't be the last." The words said to a 22-year-old DH Lawrence as he received three guineas for his first published story in 1907. He had submitted 3 short stories to the Nottingham Guardian for their annual Christmas writing competition. "A Prelude to a Happy Christmas" won, was published in the newspaper and the rest is history. However it is another of those 3 stories, "A Fragment of Stained Glass" first written as "Ruby Glass" that we will be delving into today for some fun (if slightly pointless) historical detective work. It ties together Lawrence, Watnall Hall, the Rolleston family and Beauvale Priory...

The plot - In the story, the main character is a local serf just sacked from his job at the stables of a local landowner... "I was a serf in Rollestoun’s Newthorpe Manor, master of the stables I was." He then goes on the run into the woods after burning down the manor house and turns up a few miles away at Beauvale Priory peering demonically through a stained glass window at the alarmed monks within. Lawrence has been known to play fast and loose with local places and surnames, substituting real ones for similar local ones but "Newthorpe" (which neighbours Watnall) and "Rollestoun" is close enough for me to think of Watnall Hall and the Rollestons.

Who and Where? - If we assume "Rollestoun" = "Rolleston", that family were the owners of local manor Watnall Hall but they only became owners in 1538. The first one in Watnall was Raulfe Rolleston who married into the Bingham family and inherited the Watnall estate upon the death of his father-in-law in 1538. The monks of Beauvale Priory were evicted on 18th July 1539 as part of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Raulfe Rolleston (3rd from the right) inherited Watnall in 1538.
This brass rubbing is from his parent's memorial in Ashover church.
Beauvale Priory was shutdown by Henry VIII in July 1539.

The Conclusion - So the story can only be set between 1538 when the Rolleston family became lords of the manor of Watnall and July 1539 when the monks of Beauvale Priory were evicted.

Did he know? - It's possible that Lawrence realised how just accurately his story could be dated as we know he read the 1901 parish history of Greasley called "Grisleia in Snotingscire" by local vicar Reverend Rodolph Baron von Hube which contains most of the clues and probably inspired the story in the first place.

You'll find plenty more pointless posts about our local history at the main Tales From Watnall Hall website, we're currently at 166 articles and 673,790 words, enjoy!...

The remains of Beauvale Priory and the woods,
the setting for "A Fragment of Stained Glass"
(Image by LCF Landscape Photography)