Cockersand Abbey is a former

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

near

Cockerham Cockerham is a small village and civil parish within the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is south of Lancaster and north-northwest of Preston. Lying on the River Cocker, at the estuary of the River Lune, the parish ha ...

in the

City of Lancaster The City of Lancaster () is a local government district of Lancashire, England, with the status of a city and non-metropolitan district. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, but covers a far larger area, which includes the tow ...

district of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, England. It is situated near the mouth of the River Cocker.

History

It was founded before 1184 as the Hospital of St Mary on the marsh belonging to

Leicester Abbey 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 ...

. It was refounded by the

Cambro-Norman Cambro-Normans ( la, Cambria; "Wales", cy, Normaniaid Cymreig; nrf, Nouormands Galles) were Normans who settled in South Wales, southern Wales, and the Welsh Marches, after the Norman invasion of Wales, allied with their counterpart families ...

magnate, Theobald Walter, 1st Baron Butler, as a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

in 1190. It was subsequently elevated to an abbey in 1192. It also continued as a hospital. Farrer & Brownbill (1908), pp. 154-9 The Abbey was originally located in marsh land which was later drained, becoming known as St. Mary's of the Marsh. The abbey was the third richest in Lancashire when it was dissolved in 1539 and acquired by a John Kechyn in 1544. The site is now adjacent to a farm house and the only significant relic is the still intact, vaulted

Cockersand Abbey chapter house Cockersand Abbey chapter house is a mausoleum in the English village of Thurnham, Lancashire. A Grade I listed building and formerly part of Cockersand Abbey, it dates to 1230. It was used as a family mausoleum by the Daltons of Thurnham Hal ...

, which was built in 1230 and used as a family

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

by the Daltons of

Thurnham Hall Thurnham Hall is a grade-I-listed 17th-century country house in the village of Thurnham, Lancashire, England some 10 km (6 miles) south of Lancaster. The present building is a three-storey stone-built house probably built in the 17th centur ...

during the 18th and 19th centuries. The land was acquired by the Daltons shortly after 1556, when Robert Dalton married Ann Kitchen There are some scrappy remains of the church adjacent. A tradition that the medieval choir stalls in the nearby

Lancaster Priory Lancaster Priory, formally the Priory Church of St Mary, is the Church of England parish church of the city of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. It is located near Lancaster Castle and since 1953 has been designated a Grade I listed building. ...

originated from here has been discredited. The chapter house is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

and

scheduled ancient monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. In 2007

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

made an £80,000 grant to the owner to help preserve the building. The chapter house is open to the public on special occasions such as Heritage Open Days.

Roman statuettes

Two

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

statuettes were discovered on Cockersand Moss near the abbey site in 1718, possibly indicating the presence of a Romano-British shrine nearby. One statuette of Mars, which was art of Lord Arundel's collection that

William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...

exhibited in 1719 to the Society of Antiquaries was an inscription which has been recorded as DEO MARTI NODONTI AVRJELIVS ..... CINVS SIG (Deo Marti Nodonti Aurelius ..... cinus sig(illum)). The second, smaller and inferior quality, statuette was reported as containing the inscription LVCIANVSJD.M.Nl COL LIC APRILI VIATOjRIS VS (D(eo)M(arti) N(odonti) LucianusI collic(io) Aprili Viato ris v(otum) s(olvit)).https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/617 Roman Inscriptions of Britain RIB 617. Dedication to Mars Nodons

List of dignitaries

*Hugh (Garth) the Hermit ‘Master of the Hospital’ (before 1184) *Henry (?–1190) *Thomas 'Abbas de Marisco' (1194–1199) *Roger 'Abbas de Marisco', 'abbas de Kokersand' (1205–6) *Hereward ( fl. 1216–1235) *Richard de Freckleton (fl. 1240) *Henry (fl. 1246–1261) *Adam de Blake (fl. 1269–1278) *Thomas (fl. 1286–1288) *Robert of Formby (fl. 1289–1290) *Roger (fl. 1300) *Thomas (fl. 1305–1307) *Roger (fl. 1311–1331) *William of Boston (fl. 1334–1340) *Robert of Carleton (fl. 1347–1354) *Jordan of Bosedon (fl. 1354–1364) *Richard (fl. 1382) *Thomas (fl. 1386–1389) *William Stamford (fl. 1393) *Thomas of Burgh (fl. 1395–1403) *Thomas Green (1410–1444?) *Robert Egremont (1444–c. 1474) *William Lucas (–1477) *William Bowland (1477–1490) *John Preston (1490–1502?) *James Skipton (1502–1505) *Henry Stayning (1505–1509) *John Croune (1509–?) *George Billington (fl. 1520–1522) *John Bowland (fl. 1524–1527) *surnamed Newsham (?) *Gilbert Ainsworth (1531) *Robert Kendal (1531–1533) *Robert Poulton (1533–1538/9)

Civil parish

The

of Cockersand Abbey was created as a local government unit in 1858, and was part of

Lancaster Rural District Lancaster Rural District was a rural district in the county of Lancashire, England. It was created in 1894 and abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972. It was made up of 22 civil parishes to the north and south of the city of Lanc ...

. It was abolished and incorporated into Thurnham civil parish in 1935. The population was recorded as 26 in 1871, 53 in 1901, and 25 in 1931 The parish included the area around the abbey and extended north and south along the coast.

Media gallery

Image:Cockersand Abbey.JPG,

Engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

of the chapter house at Cockersand Abbey Image:Coastal Path at Cockersand Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1188065.jpg, The

Lancashire Coastal Way The Lancashire Coastal Way is a long-distance footpath following the coast of the county of Lancashire in the north west of England. Its end points are Silverdale in the north and Freckleton in the south. Its length is variously asserted to ...

passes the site of the abbey Image:Ruins at Cockersand Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1188056.jpg, Surviving fragment of a wall

References

Footnotes

Sources

* Anthony New. ''A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales'', pp. 116–117. Constable. *

External links

* * British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol2/pp154-159 {{City of Lancaster buildings Premonstratensian monasteries in England Monasteries in Lancashire Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire Scheduled monuments in Lancashire Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster 1180s establishments in England Grade I listed monasteries Former civil parishes in Lancashire