When news arrived that the Earl of Derby had been ordered to attack Sawley, the rebels were able to muster sufficient men to block the earl's advance from Preston at the end of the month. Robert Aske sent word of the results of his negotiation with the Duke of Norfolk at Doncaster and both sides disbanded without battle. The period of relative calm that followed was broken by Bigod's rebellion in January 1537, and it soon became clear that any hope of saving the abbey was lost. When the Duke of Norfolk arrived on February 9, he found the abbey deserted. The monks had surrendered the building to Sir Richard Tempest, who then turned it over to Sir Arthur Darcy, who took the abbot prisoner. Although all agree that the last abbot was executed as punishment for his actions, there is disagreement as to both the place of execution and the identity of the office-holder. Thomas Bolton had been abbot for almost 10 years at the start of 1536. Many sources assert that Bolton was replaced by William Trafford just before the dissolution, and some that Trafford was executed in Lancaster on 10 March 1537 alongside John Paslew, the last Abbot of Whalley. It is possible that Bolton was executed and the addition of William Trafford to the list of abbots was an error made by John Stevens in the early 18th century and uncritically repeated by some authors ever since. Sirs Thomas Percy and Stephen Hamerton, Nicholas Tempest, and Robert Aske were among those tried in London and sent to the gallows at Tyburn in late May and early June. Post-dissolution By 1561 the abbey site was among the former monastic lands owned by Henry Darcy, the son of Sir Arthur Darcy. Parts of the northern end of the west range may have been incorporated into a cottage which was still standing around 1850. An isolated wall containing a fireplace, which survives to a height of , was reused in the post-medieval building. Elements of the abbey have been also incorporated into other buildings including carvings on the chancel screen at All Hallows Church, Great Mitton, a two-storey bay window at Little Mearley Hall, Mearley, along with decorated stonework at Middop Hall, Middop, and at Southport Farmhouse, Sawley. Sawley manor had come into the possession of James Hay, when was created Lord Hay of Sawley in 1615 and it