to him". The situation improved when John's dispute with the pope ended. The persecution of Waverley appears to have ended by October 1214, when the abbot was sent on official business on behalf of the King. The church's construction appears to have carried on throughout the difficult period, as on 10 July 1214 five altars were consecrated by Albin, Bishop of Ferns. In 1225 the abbey was visited by King Henry III; he took communion at the abbey on 16 December 1225. Construction of the church was not completed, however, until 1278 (74/5 years after it began), when Nicholas de Ely, Bishop of Winchester blessed the church in honor of the Virgin Mary. The blessing was followed by a feast supposedly attended by 7,066 people; including six abbots and many knights and ladies. The abbey's difficult century continued with further floods in 1233; up to 8 ft in height, the flood destroyed several of the abbey's bridges and property. Another flood on 28 November 1265 flooded the abbey's lower buildings forcing the monks "to take refuge in the church". In 1291 the abbey was described as in "grievous poverty" after their crops had failed. The abbey produced the Annals of Waverley, an important source for the period, but by the end of the thirteenth century the abbey was becoming less important. Dissolution The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535 records the abbey as having a clear annual income of £174 8s. 3½d. As such it was dissolved with the lesser (poorer) monasteries in 1536, as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. There were only thirteen monks in the community at the time. Abbots of Waverley The following is a list of the abbots of Waverley Abbey. John, died 1128 Gilbert, 1128-9 Henry, died 1182 Henry of Chichester, 1182, resigned 1187 Christopher (abbot of Bruerne, Oxfordshire), 1187, removed from office 1196 John II. (hospitaller), 1196, died 1201 John III. (cellarer), 1201, died 1216 Adam (sub-prior), 1216, resigned 1219 Adam II. (abbot of Garendon Abbey, Leicestershire), 1219, resigned 1236 Walter Giffard (abbot of Bittlesden, Bucks), 1236, died 1252 Ralph (abbot of Dunkewell, Devon), 1252, resigned 1266 William de London, 1266 William de Hungerford, resigned 1276 Hugh de Leukenor, 1276, died 1285 Philip de Bedwinde, 1285 William, occurs 1316 Robert, occurs 1335 John III., 1344 John IV., 1349, died 1361 John de Enford, occurs 1385-6 William Hakeleston, 1386, died 1399 John Brid,