Creake Abbey is a ruined

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 con ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

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 ...

, situated alongside the River Burn and a mile to the north of the village of

North Creake North Creake is a village and civil parish in the north west of the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 414 in 184 households at the 2001 census, reducing to 386 at the 2011 Census. For the purposes of local ...

. The abbey church was dedicated to Saint Mary. The ruins are Grade I listed, and form part of a Scheduled Monument site.

History

The site was originally occupied by an almshouse for the poor, and was founded by the Augustinians as a

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 ...

in the 12th century. Voluntary grants of alms by the leading families of Nerford and Creake and by the faithful of the neighbourhood seem to have built up resources sufficiently to warrant elevation from Hospital to Priory and thence to Abbey, which happened in 1231. Henry III made a number of grants to Creake in its early years. Gifts of parish churches included Hapton and Wreningham, Gateley and St Martin at Quarles and later in 1365 of St Andrew, Great Ringstead. The heyday of the Abbey was during the fourteenth century when there were but six canons, though the Rule required in addition to the abbot, prior and cellarer, a cantor, sacrist and kitchener, refectorian, infirmarian, almoner, master of novices and guest master. According to AL Bedingfield, these posts may have been filled in rotation or plurality. There will have been junior canons and, from time to time, novices. There would finally be numerous servants, tailors, laundresses and their assistants, the messor (harvest reaper), shepherds and cowherds for the farm, as well as residents of the hospital. Unlike some of the abbeys in the region, it was still fulfilling its hospital function as late as 1397. In 1483, a fire swept through the abbey, damaging the church and several of the other buildings, such that it was beyond the capacity of the convent to restore it. The abbot appealed to the king as patron of the house, and Richard III, 'moved with pite' gave the abbey by way of alms towards the rebuilding of the handsome sum of £46 13s.4d., to be paid out the revenues of the lordship of

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north west of Norwich. The town is the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to Norw ...

. Robert Walsingham, appointed abbot in 1491, began extensive rebuilding of the quire and presbytery, and Sir William Calthorpe left £74 towards the completion of the work. By 1503 the work was well advanced and lands given by Walter Aslake were used for the completion of the north side of the quire. By this time the abbot was Giles Sherington. However, in 1506 an outbreak of the '

sweating sickness Sweating sickness, also known as the sweats, English sweating sickness, English sweat or ''sudor anglicus'' in Latin, was a mysterious and contagious disease that struck England and later continental Europe in a series of epidemics beginning ...

' wiped out the monastic community, the abbot himself being the last to die. The abbey site and estate was given to Lady Margaret Beaufort in 1507, and ended up in the ownership of Christ's College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

Ruins

A few sections of the church walls remain standing, and demonstrate their traditional Norfolk flintwork. There are some remaining carved details in the window arches and doorways. However, little else survives apart from foundations. The site is now in the care of

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 ...

, and freely accessible to the public. The abbey ruins are

Grade I 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 ...

listed, originally listed as St Mary's Abbey. Four bays of the 6-bay chancel survive to roof height. There were some restorations in 1864 by RM Phipson, Chief Architect of the

Diocese of Norwich The Diocese of Norwich is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Church of England that forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. History It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the diocese of the Bishop of the Eas ...

. They form part of a wider heritage site, which is a

Scheduled 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 ...

. Within that wider site there are two further Grade I listings: the mixed medieaval-19th-century farmhouse called Creake Abbey Farmhouse (but which was originally itself listed as Creake Abbey) and the garden walls between the abbey ruins and Creake Abbey Farmhouse. There is a separate commercial enterprise, adjacent to the abbey ruins and Creake Abbey Farmhouse, which is called Creake Abbey. This is a café and farm shop, and hosts a farmers' market on the first Saturday of each month.

References

* The Heritage Trail (1998–2005).
Creake Abbey
'. Retrieved October 21, 2005.

External links

The Abbey of Creake
-

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

a
British History OnlineCreake Abbey
- the abbey a
PastScape.org

Abbey Farmhouse
- includes remains of the abbey's domestic buildings, a
PastScape.org

Visitor information and research: English Heritage
{{Authority control Augustinian monasteries in England English Heritage sites in Norfolk Ruins in Norfolk Monasteries in Norfolk 1231 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 13th century 1500s disestablishments in England

History

Ruins

References

Further reading

External links