This noble was distinguished for his piety, as well as his other great qualities. The chronicler describes him as “præclarus comes, et eximius monasteriorum fundator,” an illustrious earl and distinguished founder of monasteries. Among other such institutions he founded, on the feast of St. Hilary, A.D. 1139, the Priory of Thornton, in North Lincolnshire. This Stephen also received the lordship of Holderness, which had been held by Drogo. He was succeeded by his son William, who was surnamed Crassus, or “The Gross,” from his unwieldy frame. His great-granddaughter, Avelin, succeeding to the property in her turn, married Edmund, Earl of Lancaster, surnamed Gibbosus, or humpback. But they had no issue, and so, as the “Book of Meux Abbey” says, “for want of heirs the Earldom of Albemarle and the Honour of Holderness were seized (once again) into the King’s hands.” What became of the demesne of Thimbleby is not specified; but we find from the survey, already quoted, that in the same century Walter de Gaunt, son of Gilbert de Gaunt, {166d} held Thimbleby and other neighbouring parishes 24 carucates, or in all 2,880 acres of land. We have traced elsewhere {166e} the descent of the Willoughby family from the Gaunts, and about 100 years later (circa 1213, Survey, as before) William de Willoughby succeeded to these estates, including the demesne of Thimbleby. He was ancestor of the present Earl of Ancaster, and Lord Willoughby de Eresby, who now represents this division in Parliament. How long the estates, in whole or in part, remained with the Willoughbys is not clear; but we have evidence of their connection with Thimbleby nearly 100 years later, in a document dated 1302, {167a} concerning a dispute as to lands in Thimbleby, Langton, Woodhall, and several other parishes, between John de Bec and Robert Wylgherby, the two families being related; in which the said Robert surrenders to the said John all property in dispute, for his lifetime, on condition that, after his decease, the whole shall revert to the said John Willoughby, and his heirs, for ever. {167b} From this time we find other names connected with the parish. Indeed prior to this, in a charter of Bardney Abbey, dated “at the Chapter of the Convent, on Sunday next after the Ascension of our Lord” (22nd May) 1281; we have among the witnesses, along with others belonging to Edlington, Wispington, and Baumber, “Master Bartholomew of Thimbleby,” and John Crayck of the same, the former being probably the Rector. {167c} This charter refers to certain lands and tenements, the gift to the abbey of “Walter, son of Gilbert, de Bolingbrog,” _i.e._ Walter, the son of Gilbert de Gaunt, already named. In another Bardney charter, dated four years later (30th Sept., 1285), we find again the same Thimbleby witnesses, with Alured of Woodhall, and others. {167d}