Sharington

Sir William Sharington 1495 - 1553

Sir William Sharington; If you saw 'Wolf Hall', the book was written by Hilary Mantel, but the television adaption with Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell, you will have fallen under the spell of the dark Shakespearean time of Henry Vlll.  Velvet robes, intrigues, ghastly deaths and the slow corruption that befalls all high office.

Lacock Abbey with its rather attractive Oriel window

But you would not have come across Sharington, he was a player at the time, buying Lacock Abbey after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  Greed of course led to their downfall, Henry looked at these large estates and needed the money.  So the lords and business entrepreneurs fell on the buildings and estates and that is why today you see so many magnificent ruins everywhere, robbed of their building materials.

The old cloisters

Lacock though had a different fate, it was redeveloped from an Abbey into a house by Sharington, with the living quarters above the great cloisters the monks used to walk around, but through all this, it kept its great beauty and stateliness. 

But like many courtiers of the time intrigue and devilry were also part of his game.  put in charge of the Bristol Mint, he did not exactly 'clip or shave the coin' but coins were considerably lighter than they should be.  He also minted more than was declared which  went into his own pocket, to help with the building of his home, He was forgiven. But when a plot against the king (young boy king Edward Vl) by Lord Thomas Seymour, then he found himself in trouble.  The execution of Seymour helped him in his plea for mercy and he carried on working for the government.

His role in the plot centred on his ability to make money, Seymour wanted £10,000 to keep a standing army for a month, which Sharington promised him that he could find the money.

He had a varied life, he was also Sheriff of Wiltshire, had three wives but no children but his treatment of the abbey left us with a legacy of great beauty.  He stilled his hand and allowed the natural balance of the stone and long length of the house to settle into the countryside around.

   

Yt is also objected and laied unto your charge that having knowledge that Sir William Sharington, knight, had committed treason, and otherwise wonderfully defrauded and deceiv'd the Kinges Majestie, nevertheless you both by your self, and by seeking Counsel for him, and by all means you could, did aid, assist, and beare hym, contrarie to your dewtie and Allegiance to the Kinges Majestie, and the good laws and orders of the realm. Yt is objected and laied unto your charge that where you owed to the said Sir William Sharington, knight, a great sum of Mony, yet to abet, beare and cloake the great falshood of the said Sharington you were not afraid to saye and affirm, before the Lord Protector and the Council, that the said Sharington did owe you a great sum of Mony, viz. 2800l. and to conspire with him in that falshood, and take a Bill of that feigned debt into your custody.