Newminster Abbey was a Cistercian abbey in Northumberland in the north of England. The site is protected by Grade II listed building and Scheduled Ancient Monument status. [1]
Ranulph de Merlay, lord of Morpeth, and his wife, Juliana, daughter of Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian, founded the abbey in 1137 and Saint Robert of Newminster from the Cistercian Fountains Abbey was appointed as the first abbot; he governed from 1138 to 1159. The year after its foundation, the abbey (at that time only a group of timber buildings) was burned in an attack by Scottish raiders. The abbey construction resumed and in 1159 Abbot Robert died and was buried beneath the high altar. His tomb became a shrine and place of pilgrimage, and a number of miracles were ascribed to him so that eventually he was canonised.
The abbey was located a short distance to the west of Morpeth, on the boundary between the lands of Ranulph de Merlay and Bertram of Mitford. Both these minor barons, and also D'Umfraville of Prudhoe, Lord of Redesdale, were significant benefactors in the abbey's early years. As a result, by 1240 the abbey possessed lands extending to Benton-on-Tyne where they had fisheries, to Cambois on the east coast where they had saltpans, and to Kidland on the Scottish border, where they annually led sheep to pasture during the summer months. The abbey established daughter houses at Pipewell Abbey in Northamptonshire, at Sawley Abbey near Clitheroe in Lancashire, and at Roche Abbey near Rotherham in South Yorkshire. [2]
After closure during the first wave of dissolution in 1537, the estate was leased by the Crown to the Grey family [3] who used many of the stones for their own buildings.
The estate including the site of the abbey was sold by the Crown to Robert Brandling in 1609, and was sold on by the Brandling family in 1709 to John Ord of Fenham. [3]
The site is in private ownership and there is no public access or parking near it. However, the site can be viewed from the hill above it and from a public footpath that runs on the west side.[ citation needed ]
The abbey is the namesake of the Abbey Well water brand created by Waters & Robson.
Newminster Abbey was a civil parish: in 1891 the parish had a population of 174. [4] Newminster Abbey was formerly a township in Morpeth parish; [5] from 1866 Newminster Abbey was a civil parish in its own right [6] until it was abolished on 30 September 1894 and merged with Morpeth; part also went to form Newminster. [7]
Morpeth is a historic market town in Northumberland, England, lying on the River Wansbeck. Nearby towns include Ashington and Bedlington. In the 2011 census, the population of Morpeth was given as 14,017, up from 13,833 in the 2001 census. The earliest evidence of settlement is believed to be from the Neolithic period, and some Roman artifacts have also been found.
Sir John Lexington was a baron and royal official in 13th century England. He has been described as having been Lord Chancellor, but other scholars believe he merely held the royal seals while the office was vacant or the chancellor was abroad. He served two terms, once from 1247 to 1248, and again from 1249 to 1250.
Black Heddon is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Belsay, in the county of Northumberland, England. It is situated to the north-west of Newcastle upon Tyne, between Stamfordham and Belsay. In 1951 the parish had a population of 45.
Cambo is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wallington Demesne, in Northumberland, England. It is about 11 miles (18 km) to the west of the county town of Morpeth at the junction of the B6342 and B6343 roads. The village was gifted along with the Wallington Estate to the National Trust by Sir Charles Philips Trevelyan in 1942, the first donation of its kind. It remains a National Trust village. In 1951 the parish had a population of 60.
Ogle is a village in and former civil parish, now in the parish of Whalton, Northumberland, England, north-west of Ponteland and south-west of Morpeth. The surname Ogle comes from here, where the Ogle family built Ogle Castle and owned Kirkley Hall. In 1951 the parish had a population of 122.
Robert of Newminster was a priest, abbot, and a saint of the Catholic Church. He was born in Gargrave in Yorkshire, England. He was one of the monks who founded Fountains Abbey and is named from the abbey he founded in Morpeth, Northumberland.
Morpeth Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building at Morpeth, Northumberland, in northeast England. It has been restored by the Landmark Trust and is now available as a holiday rental home.
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Prudhoe Castle is a ruined medieval English castle situated on the south bank of the River Tyne at Prudhoe, Northumberland, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building.
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Hadston is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of East Chevington, in Northumberland, England, about 2.5 miles (4 km) south of Amble. In 1951 the parish had a population of 196.
Robert de Umfraville, 8th Earl of Angus, of Prudhoe, Chollerton, Harbottle, and Whelpington, Northumberland was an Anglo-Norman baron in Northumberland and the eighth Earl of Angus.
Ralph Fitzwilliam, or Ralph, son of William de Grimthorpe, Lord of Greystoke, was a feudal baron with extensive landholdings in the North of England, representative of a manorial lordship seated where Grimthorpe Hill rises to commanding views a mile to the north of Pocklington in the Yorkshire Wolds. He gave sustained military service and leadership through the Scottish and Welsh campaigns of Edward I and was summoned to parliament from 1295 to 1315. His marriage in c. 1282 brought him other manors including Morpeth in Northumberland and its appurtenances. In 1297 he was enfeoffed as tenant-in-chief of the entire barony of Greystoke, seated at Greystoke in Cumberland but with Yorkshire estates, through his matrilineal Greystok descent. He entered upon these in his own right in 1306. Having served in the retinue of Aymer de Valence, during the first decade of Edward II's reign he remained dependable as a military leader and royal lieutenant in the defence administration of the northern counties and Scottish marches. His descendants adopted the Greystoke name, and their inheritance continued in the male line until the end of the 15th century.
Robert Ord FRS was a British lawyer and politician.
Robert Brandling (1575–1636) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1622.
Richard was an English Benedictine and Cistercian, the first abbot of Fountains.
Ralph de Greystoke, 1st Baron Greystoke, was an English peer and landowner.
William Greystoke, 2nd Baron Greystoke, of Greystoke in Cumbria, was an English peer and landowner.
Ralph de Greystoke, 3rd Baron Greystoke, was an English peer and landowner.
Togston is a settlement and civil parish about 10 miles from Morpeth, in the county of Northumberland, England. The parish includes the hamlet of North Togston. In 2011 the parish had a population of 315. The parish borders Acklington, Amble By the Sea, East Chevington and Hauxley.