At the Reformation, when the monastery of St. Pancras, at Southover, was destroyed, by order of Henry VIII., on its being surrendered to that monarch, by Prior Robert Crowham, November 16th, 1537, the manor of Southover, Lewes, which included the priory, was granted to Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, who also held one moiety of the manor of Brighthelmston-Lewes:— 4. Hen. VIII. One moiety of this manor, with several other possessions in Sussex, was recovered by petition, by Thomas, Earl of Surrey, they having been devised by the Marquis of Berkeley, to Henry VII., and an act passed in the 7th of that king, whilst the petitioner was absent on the king’s business in the north, and ignorant of it till the said parliament was ended. The answer is “_Soit fait come il est desiree_.” The petition is contained in the Burrell MSS. 5637. Folios 36 and 37. On the attainder and execution of the Earl of Essex, Sir John Gage, of Firle, was appointed chief steward of Southover and other manors forfeited by that nobleman within the county of Sussex. But on the 20th of January, 1541, they were granted to Ann of Cleves, one of the injured queens of Henry VIII. The Burrell MSS. record:— 32. Hen. VIII. The King granted this manor (Brighthelmston-Lewes) and advowson to Ann of Cleves; with a great many others in Sussex, including the manor of Falmer (originally Fald-mer), which, on her death, again reverted to the crown, and after various successions and alienations, was purchased of Sir John Shelley, of Michelgrove, by Thomas, Lord Pelham, on the 2nd day of May, in the year 1770. It still continues in the possession of the Pelham family, being held by the Earl of Chichester, of Stanmer, the manor adjoining. Miss Strickland, in her “Lives of the Queens of England,” says:—“The marriage was dissolved by mutual consent; and she being content to abide in this realm, and to yield to its laws, and to discharge her conscience of that pretended marriage, the king, of his especial favour, granted to her certain manors and estates in divers counties, lately forfeited by the attainder of the Earl of Essex,—Cromwell, whose spoils formed the principal fund for the maintenance of this princess,—and Sir Nicholas Carew, to be held without rendering an account from the Lady-day foregoing the same grant, which was dated on the 20th of January, 1541.”