Abbots Michael Mentmore (1336-1349) and Thomas de la Mare (1349-1396)

Abbot Michael de Mentmore had studied at Oxford and was renowned for his scholarship. He was admitted to the monastery when Hugh de Eversden was abbot and was charged with the task of looking after the scholars and their studies. He was elected abbot on 1 June 1336 and, as a bibliophile, he acquired many books for the monastery including two fine bibles.

Mentmore is credited with the completion of the works in the collapsed part of the nave due to the ‘care and attention’ of brother Adam de Doncaster, the sacrist’ and efforts of ‘Abbot Michael who […] always filled any shortfall from his own pocket.’ This had taken 20 years, due to “misfortunes, abbatial vacancies and invasions of the Scots into Northumberland”(The Deeds of the Abbots). He acquired the quarry at Egelmunt near Totternhoe which supplied stone to the monastery and repaired two parts of the cloister: a passage called the ‘keep’ and the Great Passage which ran alongside the vault of the Abbey from the Abbot’s door.

Besides having a hand in completing the repair work, Abbot Mentmore had two bells cast, named after Saints Alban and Amphibalus, in the hall of the sacristy. This was located outside the church just to the north of the north transept.

Thomas de la Mare became a monk at Wymondham during the abbacy of Hugh de Eversden. He held the offices of kitchener and cellarer before being appointed prior of Tynemouth, a post he held for nine years before being elected abbot of St Albans. As Mentmore’s successor, Thomas de la Mare completed the repairs to the refectory, the King’s hall and the cloisters including glazing two thirds of them. He also built a new guest house and rebuilt the almonry, the bake house and the watergate. The Great Gatehouse was rebuilt from the foundations up and was crenelated. Some of the works were overseen by the London mason Henry Yevele, whom de La Mare had admitted into the fraternity in 1377, and used stone from the quarry at Egelmunt. His sacrist, Ralph Whitchurch, commissioned a ‘very beautiful stone pedestal’ base for the shrine of St Amphibalus which was then moved to a more prominent location in the retro-choir.