Early in 1140 he entered the order of the Cluniacs at Pontefract and here he died on the 6th of February 1140.
There are extensive gardens and nurseries in the neighbourhood of Pontefract, and liquorice is largely grown for the manufacture of the celebrated Pomfret cakes.
The remains of a Roman camp have been discovered near Pontefract, but there is no trace of settlement in the town itself until after the Conquest.
At the time of the Domesday Survey Tateshall (now Tanshelf, a suburb of the town) was the chief manor and contained 60 burgesses, while Kirkby, which afterwards became the borough of Pontefract, was one of its members.
The change was probably owing to the fact that Ilbert de Lacy, to whom the Conqueror had granted the whole of the honour of Pontefract, founded a castle at Kirkby, on a site said to have been occupied by a fortification raised by Ailric, a Saxon thane.