The last few years of Abbot Richard Nottingham’s rule appear to have been quiet: in 1505 he supervised an election at Halesowen Abbey in the West Midlands; in 1506 St Mary’s Abbey was visited by the Abbot of Welbeck, and in 1510 Abbot Richard sealed a bond to which John Kniveton of Bradley was the other party; and at this date Robert Aston was vicar of Ilkeston.

A curious record from 1506 tells of one St James Agarde, presumably a canon of St Mary’s Abbey: his mother Johanne Holme bequeathed him 20/-, six yards of white woollen cloth, a feather bed, a pair of sheets and four silver spoons.
Abbot number 19:  John Bebe
Abbot John ruled from 1510 to 24th October 1538, when St Mary’s Abbey was closed down. There is an element of doubt as to whether he is the same man as a John Stanton mentioned in the Commissioners' "Black Book"'.  St John Hope thought the name Stanton was an alias, but if it was not, John Stanton might have been abbot from 1510 to some time before 1536, and John Bebe in post for the time of the suppression.

As the Visitation reports for the 15th and 16th centuries have survived, we know something of the career of whichever John this is. In 1491 he is recorded as a novice, when he must have been at least 18 years old.  Two years later he was ordained deacon and appointed subsacristan. A promising career was blighted in 1494, when he was found guilty of a major infringement of the rules: he had fathered a child, and was sentenced to seven years’ exile at Halesowen Abbey; this was suspended and he was sent to Sulby Abbey instead. He had returned by 1500 and is on record as cantor at St Mary’s Abbey. In 1505 he supervised the election of Edmund Green to the abbacy of Halesowen.

As Abbot, John was present at a party on 8th June 1516 in Nottingham with the Prior of Lenton and Mayor Thomas Mellers, when Henry Steeper stabbed the mayor twice. The record does not state why, or what was the outcome of this. In 1518 Abbot John took the oath of Allegiance of the new abbot of Darley Abbey near Derby, and in 1519 he supervised the election of John Sheffield to the abbacy at Beauchief Abbey in South Yorkshire; this was witnessed by canon Thomas Gilbert, who in that year succeeded John Sheffield as vicar of Norton, retaining that living till his death in 1547.