Bardney Abbey in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, was a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

founded in 697 by King Æthelred of Mercia, who was to become the first

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...

. The monastery was supposedly destroyed during a Danish raid in 869. In 1087, the site was refounded as a

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

y, by

Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln Gilbert de Gant, 1st Earl of Lincoln ( 1126 – 1156) was an English nobleman who fought for King Stephen during The Anarchy. He was the son of Walter de Gant (third son of the Domesday magnate Gilbert de Gant, Gant being a contemporary name ...

, and it regained status as an abbey in 1115. In 1537, six of the Bardney Abbey monks were executed for their role in the

Lincolnshire Rising 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, and north Lancashire, under the leadership of Robert Aske. The "mo ...

. In 1538, the Abbey was disbanded and its property seized during the Dissolution of the Monasteries campaign started by

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. The property was then granted to Sir Robert Tirwhit. Tirwhit retained the abbot's lodging as a house and converted the

cloister A cloister (from Latin ''claustrum'', "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cathedral or church, commonly against a ...

into a garden. In later years, the lodging and garden became ruins along with the remainder of the former abbey. Excavations from 1909 through 1914 revealed the layout of Bardney Abbey. This can still be seen, though nothing remains to any height. Further excavations and conservation took place in 2009 and 2011. Some grave slabs and carved stones are preserved in

Bardney Bardney is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The population of the civil parish was 1,643 at the 2001 census increasing to 1,848 (including Southrey) at the 2011 census. The village sits on the e ...

parish church, which is dedicated to St Lawrence. It is now owned by the charity the Jews' Court and Bardney Abbey Trust.

Relics of St Oswald

Burials

Oswald of Northumbria Oswald (; c 604 – 5 August 641/642Bede gives the year of Oswald's death as 642, however there is some question as to whether what Bede considered 642 is the same as what would now be considered 642. R. L. Poole (''Studies in Chronology an ...

Æthelred of Mercia Æthelred (; died after 704) was king of Mercia from 675 until 704. He was the son of Penda of Mercia and came to the throne in 675, when his brother, Wulfhere of Mercia, died from an illness. Within a year of his accession he invaded Kent, wh ...

Osthryth Osthryth (died 697), queen of the Mercians, was the wife of King Æthelred and daughter of King Oswiu of Northumbria and his second wife Eanflæd. She probably married Æthelred before 679 and was murdered by the nobles of Mercia. Osthryth was ...

Gilbert de Gant Gilbert de Gant (Giselbert de Gand, Ghent, Gaunt) (c. 1040 – 1095) was the son of Ralph, Lord of Aalst near Ghent, and Gisele of Luxembourg, the sister-in-law of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders. Gilbert de Gant was a kinsman of Matilda of Fl ...

*Alice de Montfort-sur-Risle, wife of Gilbert de Gant *

Walter de Gant Walter de Gant (died 1139), Lord of Folkingham was an English nobleman. Walter was a son of Gilbert de Gant and Alice, Dame de Montfort-sur-Risle. He inherited the English titles of his father, while his younger brother Hugh adopted his mother� ...

, father of

*Maud of Brittany (daughter of

Stephen, Count of Tréguier Stephen of Penthièvre, Count of Tréguier, 3rd Lord of Richmond (1058/62 – 21 April 1136) was a Breton noble and a younger son of Odo, Count of Penthièvre and Agnes of Cornouaille, sister of Hoël II, Duke of Brittany. In 1093, he succeeded t ...

), wife of Walter de Gaunt *Alice de Gant, d. c. 1181 (daughter of Walter de Gant), wife of

Roger de Mowbray (Lord of Montbray) Sir Roger de Mowbray (–1188) was an Anglo-Norman magnate. He had substantial English landholdings. A supporter of King Stephen, with whom he was captured at Lincoln in 1141, he rebelled against Henry II. He made multiple religious foun ...

Known abbots of Bardney

This list is taken from the ''Victoria County History'', and Bowyer's ''History of the Mitred Parliamentary Abbies''. Original foundation: * St. Ethelred, ex-king of Mercia, and founder of the abbey, made abbot about 704, died 716 *Kenewin, occurs 833 Benedictine foundation: hi *Ralf, prior in 1087, about 1115 *Ivo, occurs about 1133 *

John of Ghent John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, elected 1140, occurs 1147 and 1150 *Walter, occurs 1155 to 1166 *John, occurs 1167 *Ralf of Stainfield, occurs 1180 *Robert, occurs 1191 *Ralf de Rand, occurs 1208, deposed 1214 *Peter of Lenton, intruded 1214 *Matthew, occurs 1218, died 1223 *Adam de Ascwardby, elected 1225, occurs 1231 and 1240 *William of Ripton *Walter of Benningworth, elected 1241, deposed 1243 *William of Hatton, elected 1244 *William of Torksey, elected 1258, died 1266 *Peter of Barton, elected 1266, resigned 1280 *Robert of Wainfleet, elected 1280, resigned 1318 *Richard of Gainsborough, elected 1318, died 1342 *Roger of Barrow, elected 1342, died 1355 *Thomas of Stapleton, elected 1355, died 1379 *Hugh of Braunston, elected 1379, resigned 1385 *John of Haynton, elected 1385 *John Woxbrigge, elected 1404, died 1413 *Geoffrey Hemingsby, elected 1413, died 1435 *John Wainfleet, elected 1435, died 1447 *Gilbert Multon, elected 1447, resigned 1466 *Richard Horncastle, elected 1466, resigned 1507 *William Marton, last abbot, elected 1507

In popular culture

Bardney was referred to as Bearddan Igge (Bardney Abbey) in ''

The Saxon Stories ''The Saxon Stories'' (also known as ''Saxon Tales''/''Saxon Chronicles'' in the US and ''The Warrior Chronicles'' and most recently as ''The Last Kingdom'' series) is a historical novel series written by Bernard Cornwell about the birth of E ...

'' by

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

Relics of St Oswald

Burials

Known abbots of Bardney

Further reading

In popular culture

See also