Rocester Abbey was a medieval monastic house at Rocester, Staffordshire,

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 ...

of which there is now no trace above ground level. The Augustinian abbey of St. Mary, Rocester was founded in Dovedale between 1141 and 1146 by Richard Bacon, a half brother-in-law of Ranulph, 6th

Earl of Chester The Earldom of Chester was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England, extending principally over the counties of Cheshire and Flintshire. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs apparent to the English throne, and a ...

and a son-in-law of Hugh de Kevelioc, the previous earl. The Earls of Chester were the early patrons of the abbey until the death of the 7th Earl in 1237, after which the earldom was annexed to the Crown, who thereby took over the patronage. Nevertheless, the abbey, a relatively small one, was also commensurately poor. Improved funding in the 13th century and the granting to them of the right to hold a weekly market and an annual fair at Rocester improved their situation. In 1538, when the abbey was finally dissolved as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries there were, apart from the abbot, only 8 monks. Much of the building was dismantled for its reusable materials and the land sold to

Richard Trentham Richard Trentham (by 1515 – January 1547) was an English politician. His father was Thomas Trentham of Shrewsbury from whom he inherited land in Shropshire. He entered the royal household and was an Esquire of the Household by 1537 and cupbe ...

, the MP for

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. He relocated his family there, where a manor house was built, and the property subsequently passed down in the Trentham family. The site today is known as Abbey Fields and is an open space with traces of an earlier Roman Fort.

References

* Monasteries in Staffordshire {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub