The greater part of Dale Abbey's cartulary is made up of small grants. The estates thus formed were patchworks of land, relatively dense in some areas where granges were established, but generally interspersed by the holdings of other landholders, both secular and ecclesiastical. Frequently the abbey had to defend its holdings against the ambitions of others. However, it also invested surplus cash in the developing land market, exploiting the indebtedness of landholders, both great and small.
