 Barlings Abbey, engraving by Samuel Buck | |
  Location within Lincolnshire | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Order | Premonstratensian |
| Established | 1154 |
| Disestablished | 1537 |
| Mother house | St Mary and St. Martial at Newsham |
| Dedicated to | Assumption of the Blessed Mary |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Ralph de Haye |
Barlings Abbey was a one of nine Premonstratensian monasteries in the county of Lincolnshire, England. It was founded in 1154, as a daughter house of the Abbey of St. Mary and St. Martial in Newsham.
Its founder was Ralph de Haye, [1] son of the constable of Lincoln Castle, and lord of Burwell and Carlton. It was first established at Barlings Grange but was soon moved to its present site, previously called Oxeney [2] in Lawress Wapentake of the West Riding of the Parts of Lindsey. [3] Maud, the wife of William Longespee, gave it the manor of Caenby for the support of four more canons, in addition to the original thirteen. [4]
By the mid-14th century the canons are known to have been in considerable financial trouble and even by 1412 when there were twenty-seven in residence, they were maintained with difficulty due to continued poverty and debt. By 1497 the situation had improved with the abbot praised for his administration and the monastery remarked to be in a good state. [4]
During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey became involved in the uprisings against this act and the abbot, Matthew Mackarel, [5] said to have been one of the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace in Lincolnshire, and six of the canons were subsequently hanged and quartered.
The supposed complicity of Abbot Mackarel, like that of other heads of religious houses, gave Henry VIII the opportunity of laying hands upon the Abbey of Barlings and of placing it under the law of attainder. The abbey was closed and the remainder of the canons expelled with little compensation due to the activities of their condemned brethren. The abbey church was defaced, the lead torn from the roofs, and melted down under the special direction of Cromwell. The property passed to the Duke of Suffolk.
Sir John Rochford (or de Rochefort) (c.1355-1410) constable of the Bishop of Ely's castle at Wisbech, Cambs and his wife Alice (daughter of Sir Hugh de Hastings) are believed to have been buried at the abbey (he left a will dated 20 October 1410, proved 14 Dec. 1410, requesting burial at Barlings Abbey, Lincolnshire, next to his late wife, Alice). see Blomefield, Hist. of Norfolk 4 (1775): 712 (wife identified as Alice, daughter of Sir Hugh de Hastings).
Sections of the cloister range stood until 1730 as did the impressive central tower of the church which finally collapsed in 1757. Its appearance was recorded in an engraving by Samuel Buck in 1726. Now only earthworks and one large chunk of nave walling remain accessible to the public.
The main building outside the monastic church has been interpreted as a detached monastic household such as the abbot's lodging. This building was reformed as a post-Dissolution secular residence of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who used it as a vice-regal palace. Brandon was King Henry VIII's vice-regent in Lincolnshire in the wake of the Lincolnshire Rising. [6]
Thornton Abbey was a medieval abbey located close to the small North Lincolnshire village of Thornton Curtis, near Ulceby, and directly south of Hull on the other side of the Humber estuary. Its ruins are a Grade I listed building, including notably England's largest and most impressive surviving monastic gatehouse.
The Pilgrimage of Grace was a popular revolt beginning in Yorkshire in October 1536, before spreading to other parts of Northern England including Cumberland, Northumberland, Durham and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "most serious of all Tudor period rebellions", it was a protest against Henry VIII's break with the Catholic Church, the dissolution of the lesser monasteries, and the policies of the King's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, as well as other specific political, social, and economic grievances.
Barlings and Low Barlings are two small hamlets lying south off the A158 road at Langworth, about 7 miles (11 km) east of Lincoln in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Low Barlings is a scattered collection of homes, situated along a trackway south from Barlings towards boggy ground near the River Witham. Both hamlets are in the civil parish of Barlings. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 460.
Beeleigh Abbey near Maldon in Essex, England, was a monastery constructed in 1180 for the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, as known as the Norbertines or Premonstratensians. The order linked the change of the separate life of monks in the 12th century with the retrospective life of the friar, who was considerably more active.
Leiston Abbey outside the town of Leiston, Suffolk, England, was a religious house of Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule, dedicated to St Mary. Founded in c. 1183 by Ranulf de Glanville, Chief Justiciar to King Henry II (1180-1189), it was originally built on a marshland isle near the sea, and was called "St Mary de Insula". Around 1363 the abbey suffered so much from flooding that a new site was chosen and it was rebuilt further inland for its patron, Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk (1298-1369). However, there was a great fire in c. 1379 and further rebuilding was necessary.
Revesby Abbey was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Revesby in Lincolnshire, England. The abbey was founded in 1143 by William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln, and the first monks came from Rievaulx Abbey.
Alnwick Abbey was founded as a Premonstratensian monastery in 1147 by Eustace fitz John near Alnwick, England, as a daughter house of Newhouse Abbey in Lincolnshire. It was dissolved in 1535, refounded in 1536 and finally suppressed in 1539. The Alnwick Abbey site is located just within Hulne Park, on the bank of the River Aln. The only visible remnant is the impressive 14th-century gatehouse, a Grade I listed building.
Bardney Abbey in Lincolnshire, England, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 697 by King Æthelred of Mercia, who was to become the first abbot. The monastery was supposedly destroyed during a Danish raid in 869. In 1087, the site was refounded as a priory, by Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln, and it regained status as an abbey in 1115.
Coverham Abbey, North Yorkshire, England, was a Premonstratensian monastery that was founded at Swainby in 1190 by Helewisia, daughter of the Chief Justiciar Ranulf de Glanville. It was refounded at Coverham in about 1212 by her son Ranulf fitzRalph, who had the body of his late mother reinterred in the chapter house at Coverham.
Croxton Abbey, near Croxton Kerrial, Leicestershire, was a Premonstratensian monastery founded by William I, Count of Boulogne.
Dureford Abbey, in Sussex, England, was a Premonstratensian monastery. It was founded by Henry Hussey who in 1161 granted land to the abbot of Welbeck Abbey, to establish the new community near Rogate, Sussex.
Eynsham Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, in England between 1005 and 1538. King Æthelred allowed Æthelmær the Stout to found the abbey in 1005. There is some evidence that the abbey was built on the site of an earlier minster, probably founded in the 7th or 8th centuries. The site is a Scheduled Historic Monument.
Tupholme Abbey was a Premonstratensian abbey close to the River Witham some 10.5 miles (16.9 km) east of the city of Lincoln, England and one of nine such abbeys within the historical county. The Witham valley in Lincolnshire is notable for its high concentration of monasteries—there were six on the east bank and three on the west—all presumably drawn to the area by the usefulness of the River Witham for transport and by the wealth that it transported. The abbey was largely destroyed by 1538, after being seized during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Cammeringham Priory was a priory in Cammeringham, Lincolnshire, England, and was one of nine Premonstratensian houses in the historical county.
St Mary Magdalene was a Benedictine priory in Lincoln, England. Along with Sandtoft Priory and Hanes Cell, it was a Lincolnshire cell of St Mary's Abbey in York, England. A surviving building, once owned by the priory, is Monks' Abbey, Lincoln.
Louth Park Abbey was a Cistercian abbey in Lincolnshire, England. It was founded in 1139 by the Bishop Alexander of Lincoln as a daughter-house of Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire.
Newsham Abbey was an abbey in Newsham, a small hamlet north of Brocklesby village in Lincolnshire, England, and one of nine within the historical county. Founded by Peter of Gousla in 1143, Newsham was a daughter house of the Abbey of Licques, near Calais, and the first Premonstratensian house established in England.
Sulby Abbey was a Premonstratensian house in Northamptonshire, England, founded in 1155 as daughter house of the Abbey of St. Mary and St. Martial in Newsham.
The Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis, more commonly known as Leicester Abbey, was an Augustinian religious house in the city of Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. The abbey was founded in the 12th century by the Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, and grew to become the wealthiest religious establishment within Leicestershire. Through patronage and donations the abbey gained the advowsons of countless churches throughout England, and acquired a considerable amount of land, and several manorial lordships. Leicester Abbey also maintained a cell at Cockerham Priory, in Lancashire. The Abbey's prosperity was boosted through the passage of special privileges by both the English Kings and the Pope. These included an exemption from sending representatives to parliament and from paying tithe on certain land and livestock. Despite its privileges and sizeable landed estates, from the late 14th century the abbey began to suffer financially and was forced to lease out its estates. The worsening financial situation was exacerbated throughout the 15th century and early 16th century by a series of incompetent, corrupt and extravagant abbots. By 1535 the abbey's considerable income was exceeded by even more considerable debts.
