Combermere Abbey

Combermere Abbey is a former monastery, later a country house, near Burleydam, between Nantwich, Cheshire and Whitchurch in Shropshire, England, located within Cheshire and near the border with Shropshire. Initially Savigniac and later Cistercian, the abbey was founded in the 1130s by Hugh Malbank, Baron of Nantwich, and was also associated with Ranulf de Gernons, Earl of Chester. The abbey initially flourished, but by 1275 was sufficiently deeply in debt to be removed from the abbot's management. From that date until its dissolution in 1538, it was frequently in royal custody, and acquired a reputation for poor discipline and violent disputes with both lay people and other abbeys. It was the third largest monastic establishment in Cheshire, based on net income in 1535.

After the dissolution it was acquired by Sir George Cotton, who demolished the church and most of the buildings, and converted part of the abbey into a country house. The house was remodelled in 1563 by Sir George's son, Richard Cotton, altered in 1795 by Sir Robert Cotton, and Gothicised in 1814–21 by Stapleton Cotton, Viscount Combermere. It remained in the Cotton family until 1919, and is still in private ownership.

The abbey is listed at grade I, with its North Wing now operating as a bed and breakfast. Its park includes the large lake of Comber Mere, a Site of Special Scientific Interest. A total of around of the park are listed at grade II; several structures are also listed, including a game larder at grade II*.

Toponymy

The name Combermere means "lake of the Cumbri" – from ''Cymru'', the native Welsh name for Wales – and refers to an enclave of Britons surviving the Anglo-Saxon conquest of the area.

History of the abbey

Foundation and early years

Combermere Abbey was the earlier of the two great Cistercian abbeys in Cheshire, the other being Vale Royal. The abbey was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Michael, and originally belonged to the Savigniac order, which merged with the Cistercian order by 1147. Hugh Malbank, the second Baron of Wich Malbank (now Nantwich), was the founder, and the original donation occurred early in the 12th century. It was confirmed in 1130 by Ranulf de Gernons (also Ranulf II), the fourth Earl of Chester, who was one of the witnesses of its foundation charter. Other witnesses included Hugh Malbank's son, William, and Roger de Clinton, the Bishop of Coventry.Elrington & Harris, eds, pp. 150–156 Building of the abbey commenced slightly later,Husain, pp. 130–131 possibly in 1133, often stated as the date of foundation. The site given for the monastery buildings was a wooded area by the large lake of Comber Mere, a peaceful and isolated location near the Shropshire border, suitable for the austere Savigniac order. Little or nothing is known of the early abbey buildings. The first abbot was named William.

A copy of the foundation charter survives. The original grant included the manor of Wilkesley, comprising two Domesday manors worth 18 shillings pre-Conquest; the villages of Dodcott, Lodmore and Royal; land at Burleydam; a mill and fishery at Chorley; and woods at Brentwood, Light Birchwood and Butterley Heyes. It also included a quarter of Nantwich, the largest salt producer in the county until the 17th century, with a tithe of the barony's salt revenues. The abbey was also given the church at Acton and its associated chapel of Nantwich, as well as two churches in Staffordshire, at Sandon and Alstonfield.Latham, ed., 1999, pp. 20–24 The abbey later appropriated the church of Child's Ercall in Shropshire and the Cheshire churches and chapels of Baddiley, Church Coppenhall, Church Minshull and Wrenbury. Numerous other grants of land followed in the 12th and early 13th centuries, mainly in the south of Cheshire and the adjacent counties of Staffordshire and Shropshire, but also in Derbyshire. Other benefactors included William Malbank, who confirmed his father's grant and added further land, Robert de Ferrers, the Earl of Derby, William FitzAlan, William FitzRanulph and Ivo Pantulf, and later Ranulph de Blondeville (also Ranulph III), the Earl of Chester, Roger of Ightfield, Gilbert de Macclesfield, James de Audley and Robert de Baskerville.

The early history of Combermere is obscure as most of its records were destroyed before the 17th century. For the first hundred or so years after its foundation, the abbey appears to have been reasonably prosperous. In 1146–53, Abbot William successfully founded a daughter house at Poulton, which was endowed by Robert Pincerna (also Robert the Butler); it later moved to a site near Leek, Staffordshire, becoming Dieulacres Abbey. Both Combermere and Poulton are mentioned in about 1195 as Cistercian foundations in the area surrounding Chester. Several other daughter houses followed. Stanlow Abbey on the Wirral Peninsula was founded in 1178 by John FitzRichard, Baron of Halton, later moving to Whalley Abbey in Lancashire, and in 1219, a small daughter house was founded at Hulton in Staffordshire by Henry de Audley. In 1220, the abbot was reprimanded for unauthorised building, but an inspection by Abbot Stephen of Lexington in 1231 found no particular problems with the abbey. Combermere received a royal visit in 1245, and at that time the abbey was granted a market and fair at what is now known as Market Drayton in Shropshire.

Combermere established granges before 1237 at nearby Acton and Burland, Wincle in east Cheshire, and Cliff and Shifford in Shropshire. Wincle was a particularly large holding of pastureland in Macclesfield Forest, given by Ranulf de Blondeville. By the end of the 13th century, Chesthill, Ditchley, Dodcott, Newton, Smeaton, Wilkesley (Heyfields) and Yarlet were also included among its granges. The abbey is known to have been farming sheep by the mid-13th century, earlier than the other major Cheshire monasteries. Combermere was producing six sacks of wool annually, worth 10–21 marks per sack, which were being sold at the fair at Boston in Lincolnshire, and also exported abroad. These figures are, however, much lower than monasteries in neighbouring counties.Hewitt, pp. 36–39

Decline

The mid-13th century saw the start of the abbey's decline, with a succession of financial problems and scandals. In 1253, its creditors were prevented from seizing its flocks, if the debt could be settled by another means. In 1275, the abbey's debts were so great that its management was assigned to the Lord Chancellor and Bishop of Bath and Wells, Robert Burnell, and the following year it was placed under royal protection for two years. Edward I's war against Wales of 1282–83 drew heavily on Cheshire and placed additional strain on the monastery; it ran so low on food stores in 1283 that it was exempted from providing supplies for the army and once again removed from the abbot's management. Burnell contributed £213 towards the abbey's needs – a sum considerably in excess of its annual income, estimated in 1318 at £130 14''s'' 11''d'' – receiving lands in Monks Coppenhall (now Crewe) in return. Royal custody was renewed in 1315–21, from 1328, and again from 1412; the 15th-century custodians included Henry Beaufort, the Bishop of Winchester. The abbey's impoverished state persisted throughout the 14th and 15th centuries; in 1496, it was exempted from tax for this reason.Latham, 1995, ed., pp. 24–25

The reasons for the abbey's abrupt descent into debt are unclear. The monks and abbot attributed their situation in 1328 to financial mismanagement by earlier abbots, who had leased out many of the abbey's estates to tenants, often at poor terms. Local historian Frank Latham has speculated that the abbey's proximity to the Chester–Shrewsbury road proved an intolerable drain on its resources:the abbey was one of four to complain to Edward, the Black Prince in 1351 about the cost of providing hospitality to guests and their servants, horses and hunting hounds. In the early 15th century, previous abbots were again blamed for the abbey's poverty, this time for disposing of timber from the abbey's woods and allowing its buildings to fall into disrepair.

The abbots and monks were involved in many violent disputes with outsiders from the 13th century onwards. In 1281, a feud with the Abbey of Saint-Evroul in Orne

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