Vale Royal Abbey is a former
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
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 later
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
in
Whitegate England. The precise location and boundaries of the abbey are difficult to determine in today's landscape. The original building was founded c. 1270 by the Lord Edward, later
Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
for
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
monks. Edward had supposedly taken a vow during a rough sea crossing in the 1260s.
Civil wars and political upheaval delayed the build until 1272, the year he inherited the throne. The original site at
Darnhall
Darnhall is a civil parish and small village to the south west of Winsford in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. It had a population of 232 at the 2011 Census.
History
The Norman Earls o ...
was unsatisfactory, so was moved a few miles north to the
Delamere Forest
Delamere Forest is a large wood in the village of Delamere in Cheshire, England. The woodland, which is managed by Forestry England, covers an area of making it the largest area of woodland in the county. It contains a mixture of deciduous and ...
. Edward intended the structure to be on a grand scale—had it been completed it would have been the largest Cistercian monastery in the country—but his ambitions were frustrated by recurring financial difficulties.
Early during construction, England became involved in
war with Wales. As the treasury was thus in need of resources, Vale Royal lost all of its grants, skilled
masons and builders. When work resumed in the late 13th century, the building was considerably smaller than originally planned. The project encountered other problems. The abbey was mismanaged and poor relations with the local population sparked outbreaks of violence
on a number of occasions. In one such episode in 1336,
the abbot
''The Abbot'' (1820) is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, one of the Waverley novels. A sequel to ''The Monastery'', its action takes place in 1567 and 1568. It reaches its climax in the escape of Mary, Queen of Scots from Lochleven Castle ...
was killed by a mob. Internal discipline was also frequently bad; in the 14th century the monks were often accused of serious crimes including rape, and the abbots were seen as protecting them. The abbey was devastated at least twice: in the early 1300s a fire destroyed the entire
monastic grange
Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by monasteries independent of the manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, most of which were largely a ...
, and in 1359—soon after building work had recommenced under the
patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
of
Edward the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, su ...
—a great storm caused the collapse of the massive nave.
Vale Royal was closed in 1538 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 ...
during his
dissolution of the Monasteries campaign, although not without controversy. In the course of the proceedings, the abbot was accused of treason and murder, and he in turn accused the King's men of fraudulently forging the abbot's signature on essential legal documents but the abbey's closure was inevitable, and its estates were sold to a member of the local Cheshire gentry,
Thomas Holcroft
Thomas Holcroft (10 December 174523 March 1809) was an English dramatist, miscellanist, poet and translator. He was sympathetic to the early ideas of the French Revolution and helped Thomas Paine to publish the first part of ''The Rights of Ma ...
. Holcroft pulled much of it down (including the church), although he incorporated some of the cloister buildings into the new mansion he built on the site in the 1540s. This was subsequently considerably altered and extended by successive generations of Holcrofts. Vale Royal came into the possession of the
Cholmondeley family during the early 1600s, and remained the family seat for more than 300 years.
The Cholmondeley family remodelled the exterior during the 18th century, and
Thomas Cholmondeley carried out extensive work in the early 1800s. Substantial alterations were carried out under the auspices of
Edward Blore
Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary.
Early career
He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore.
Blore's backg ...
in 1833 and by
John Douglas from 1860. Sold soon after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, it was turned into a private golf club. The building remains habitable and contains parts of the medieval abbey, including its refectory and kitchen. The foundations of the church and cloister have been excavated; Vale Royal Abbey, 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 ...
, is listed in the
National Heritage List for England
The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, an ...
as a
Grade II*
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 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 ...
.
Foundation
Vale Royal Abbey was originally founded in
Darnhall
Darnhall is a civil parish and small village to the south west of Winsford in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. It had a population of 232 at the 2011 Census.
History
The Norman Earls o ...
by the Lord Edward, the future
Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
, before his accession to the throne. He was supposedly caught in rough weather crossing the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
in the early 1260s, during which, the abbey's own chronicler later wrote, the King's son and his entourage feared for their lives. Edward pleaded with the
Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
to
intercede, and vowed to found an abbey in her name if they were saved. According to the chronicle, the sea calmed almost immediately and the ships returned safely to England. When the last man had stepped ashore, the chronicler continues, the storm resumed more violently than ever and Edward's ship was destroyed in the harbour.
This chronology, however, does not fit with what is known of Edward's movements in this period. His only crusade was in 1270, after which he did not return until his father
Henry III had died in 1272. By that time, Darnhall Abbey's foundation charter had already been granted. The charter mentions the King being "sometime in danger upon the sea", and it has been suggested by a recent biographer that it refers to a stormy
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
crossing during the 1260s.
Michael Prestwich
Michael Charles Prestwich OBE (born 30 January 1943) is an English historian, specialising on the history of medieval England, in particular the reign of Edward I. He is retired, having been Professor of History at Durham University and Head ...
has noted a crusader connection for Edward's new foundation: the first charter concerned with the project is dated four years earlier than the foundation charter, in August 1270, just before Edward left on crusade. Prestwich suggests that Edward probably founded the abbey more as a plea for Mary's future protection during his crusade rather than her past intervention at sea.
Regardless of Edward's intentions when founding the abbey, the deteriorating political situation and eventual
civil war
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
between his father and the
nobility
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...
—in which Edward played a prominent role— stalled plans for the abbey's build. In 1265 the rebel barons were defeated at the
Battle of Evesham
The Battle of Evesham (4 August 1265) was one of the two main battles of 13th century England's Second Barons' War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and the rebellious barons by the future King Edward I, who led the ...
, and the following year negotiations were completed for the establishment of a
Cistercian
The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
monastery in
Darnhall
Darnhall is a civil parish and small village to the south west of Winsford in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. It had a population of 232 at the 2011 Census.
History
The Norman Earls o ...
in Cheshire. This was to be paid for with the
manor house
A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...
and estate of the earls of Chester, which were now in royal hands. In August 1270, Edward granted another charter at
Winchester
Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...
to his new abbey with a further endowment of land and churches.
Closure of Darnhall Abbey
The abbey's build was problematic. Preparation took considerable time, and the first monks—led by
Abbot John Chaumpeneys—did not arrive at Darnhall from
Dore Abbey
Dore Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in the village of Abbey Dore in the Golden Valley, Herefordshire, England. A large part of the original medieval building has been used since the 16th century as the parish church, with remaining parts eith ...
(Vale Royal's
motherhouse
A motherhouse is the principal house or community for a religious institute. It would normally be where the residence and offices of the religious superior
In a hierarchy or tree structure of any kind, a superior is an individual or position at ...
) until 1274. The new abbey provoked anger and resistance from local people, who believed that it (and its newly granted lands) threatened their livelihoods. The abbey had received the
forestry rights and
free warren
A free warren—often simply warren—is a type of franchise or privilege conveyed by a sovereign in medieval England to an English subject, promising to hold them harmless for killing game of certain species within a stipulated area, u ...
of Darnhall Forest, which surrounded the villages, and in which the villagers had previously had free rein.
Darnhall's location was unsuitable for a large construction. It may have been intended as a temporary site; in 1276 Edward (by then King) agreed to move the abbey to a more suitable location. A new site was chosen in nearby
Over
Over may refer to:
Places
*Over, Cambridgeshire, England
*Over, Cheshire, England
*Over, South Gloucestershire, England
* Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England
** Over Bridge
*Over, Seevetal, Germany
Music
Albums
* ''Over'' (album), by Pe ...
, on the edge of the
Forest of Mondrem. On 13 August 1277, the king and
Queen Eleanor, their son
Alphonso and a number of nobles arrived at Over to lay the foundation stones of the new abbey for the high
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
. Chaumpeneys then said a celebratory
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...
. In 1281, the monks moved from Darnhall to temporary accommodations on the Vale Royal site while the abbey was being built.
Pevsner Pevsner or Pevzner is a Jewish surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Aihud Pevsner (1925–2018), American physicist
* Antoine Pevsner (1886–1962), Russian sculptor, brother of Naum Gabo
* David Pevsner, American actor, singer, da ...
's ''
Buildings of England
The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were published b ...
'' described Vale Royal as a "late foundation as Cistercian settlements go". It was intended to be the largest and most elaborate Cistercian church in Christian Europe.
The precise location and boundaries of the site is difficult to determine. It lay broadly within the monks'
manor of Conersley, on
parcels of land
A cadastre or cadaster is a comprehensive recording of the real estate or real property's metes-and-bounds of a country.Jo Henssen, ''Basic Principles of the Main Cadastral Systems in the World,'/ref>
Often it is represented graphically in a cad ...
later renamed Vale Royal after the royal patron. The southern boundary was probably around Petty Pool, past Earnslow to the
River Weaver
The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1720 and the work, which included ...
. Its total area was about .
Construction
Building
![Archaeological geography of Vale Royal Abbey, Cheshire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Archaeological_geography_of_Vale_Royal_Abbey%2C_Cheshire.svg)
During an excavation in 1958, the site of the abbey—at the time, heavily wooded and similar to its medieval appearance—was described as
Edward had grand ambitions for Vale Royal, as an important abbey, surpassing all the other houses of its order in Britain in scale and beauty. It was further intended to be symbolic of the wealth and power of the English monarchy and his own piety and greatness. He intended the abbey to be more grandiose than his grandfather
King John's abbey at Beaulieu, and as a project, it was comparable to his father's
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
. Henry, for example, had planned to be buried at Westminster, and Edward may have had similar plans for himself at Vale Royal. Vale Royal Abbey was his largest—although only known—major act of piety; he did not fund any other houses. The building's plans reflect Edward's enthusiasm. Fifty-one masons were employed from around the country; they were rarely local men, and may have been
pressed into service. The chief architect,
Walter of Hereford
Walter of Hereford was a holder of the feudal title Baron Bergavenny or Lord Abergavenny in the Welsh Marches in the mid twelfth century.
Lineage
Walter of Hereford was a son of Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, and Sibyl of Neufmarche, ...
(one of the foremost of his day), work began on a huge, elaborate
High Gothic
High Gothic is a particularly refined and imposing style of Gothic architecture that appeared in northern France from about 1195 until 1250. Notable examples include Chartres Cathedral, Reims Cathedral, Amiens Cathedral, Beauvais Cathedral, and ...
church the size of a cathedral.
Plans were extremely detailed; the abbey was to be furnished with thirty
copes, two silver crosses, six chalices, a gold
collar
Collar may refer to:
Human neckwear
*Clerical collar (informally ''dog collar''), a distinctive collar used by the clergy of some Christian religious denominations
*Collar (clothing), the part of a garment that fastens around or frames the neck
...
, a silver pastoral staff and other valuable possessions. It was to be long and cruciform in shape, with a central tower. The east end was semi-circular, with a
chevet of 13 radiating chapels, some of which were square, and some polygonal. Each of the
transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building withi ...
s had—as was common with Cistercian churches—a row of three chapels on its eastern side. South of the church stood a
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 ...
square, surrounded by the domestic buildings. The undermaster of the works from 1278 to 1280—and paid three
shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
a week—was
John of Battle, who would later build the King's
memorial crosses
A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...
after Eleanor's death. Although Walter of Hereford initially seems to have found difficulty in gathering skilled masons to the project, in the second and third years recruitment was much improved. At the same time, however, the number of masons employed decreased from 92 in 1277 to 53 by 1280, who were paid between £200 and £260 over the three years.
According to contemporary accounts for 1277 to 1281, 35,000 cartloads of stone—over 30 per day—were brought over rough roads nine miles from the
Eddisbury quarries, five miles to the west. Timber came from local forests—particularly Delamere and Mondrem—to build workshops and dwellings, which together cost 45 shillings. A total of £3,000 was spent on construction during these four years, and in 1283 it was arranged that £1,000 per annum would be set aside for the on-going building. Funds were to be taken straight from the
King's wardrobe. The King put one of his personal clerks—one Leonius, son of Leonius—in charge of the financial administration, appointing him Chamberlain of the city of Chester and custodian of the King's works at Vale Royal. Putting one man in charge of both posts was intended to accelerate the speed at which the abbey received its money, as until then, the local Exchequer received money which then had to be dispersed to the work's administrator. Leonius held this post for the next three years, with the "full cooperation" of the
local justice in what Leonius described as "the expenses incurred in the works of the lord King at Vale Royal".
In the early 1280s, the king greatly expanded the initial endowment, and made large donations of cash and materials. Money was plentiful and work progressed quickly. Initially providing 1,000
marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members
* Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel ...
in cash for the project, Edward also provided the monks with revenue from his
earldom 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 ...
; in 1281, the Justice of Chester was instructed to disburse the same amount to the monks each year. Leonius moved on to other projects that year, and the abbot was placed in personal charge of the works' administration. Two years later, sufficient progress had been made to allow the new church to be consecrated by the
Bishop of Durham
The Bishop of Durham is the Anglican bishop responsible for the Diocese of Durham in the Province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler has been the Bishop of Durham ...
,
Anthony Bek; Edward and his
court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...
attended the service. The King donated a
relic
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...
of the
True Cross
The True Cross is the cross upon which Jesus was said to have been crucified, particularly as an object of religious veneration. There are no early accounts that the apostles or early Christians preserved the physical cross themselves, althoug ...
which he had captured on his crusade to the abbey. In 1287 the abbot ordered a selection of marble columns and bases to be made for the cloister. These came from the
Isle of Purbeck
The Isle of Purbeck is a peninsula in Dorset, England. It is bordered by water on three sides: the English Channel to the south and east, where steep cliffs fall to the sea; and by the marshy lands of the River Frome and Poole Harbour to the n ...
, and were created by Masters
John Doget
John Doget (c. 1435–1501) was an English diplomat, scholar and Renaissance humanist. He was the nephew of Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. He was born in Sherborne, Dorset, and was probably educated in Bourchier's household b ...
and
Ralph of Chichester to Walter of Hereford's design, at a cost to the abbey of 3s. 6d. The abbot put down a deposit of £52 for the building work generally. During the winter months open stonework was covered with bundled hay to protect it from the elements.
Financial problems
![Length of Vale Royal Abbey relative to Westminster Abbey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/Length_of_Vale_Royal_Abbey_relative_to_Westminster_Abbey.svg)
The abbey's financing soon encountered difficulties. During the 1280s, the royal finances fell into arrears and eventually collapsed.
War with Wales had broken out in 1282, and Edward needed money for troops and workmen to build castles, such as
Harlech
Harlech () is a seaside resort and community in Gwynedd, north Wales and formerly in the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies on Tremadog Bay in the Snowdonia National Park. Before 1966, it belonged to the Meirionydd District of the 197 ...
, which cemented the eventual conquest. He took the money which had been set aside for Vale Royal and its masons and other labourers. This was around the time that construction began on the monks' cloister, for which the marble columns were intended. The monks were still living in the temporary accommodation built at the start of the works.
In 1290, Edward announced that he was no longer interested in the abbey: "the King has ceased to concern himself with the works of that church and henceforth will have nothing more to do with them". When Walter of Hereford sent to the Wardrobe to claim the robe he was annually issued as part of his contract, he was told this would be the last time, and he would receive neither wages nor robes from then on. The precise reasons for the King's ''
volte-face
Volte-face ( or ) is a total change of position, as in policy or opinion; an about-face.
The expression comes from the French language.
In the context of politics a volte-face is, in modern English, often referred to as a U-turn or a flip-f ...
'' are unknown. Historians have speculated that the monks may have incurred his displeasure somehow, or that it was connected to the illness and death of Queen Eleanor in November the same year; the art historian
Nicola Coldstream has suggested that Edward had a "habit of abruptly stopping funds" for his religious projects. It is possible, says ''The King's Works'', that "some of the building money may have been used for other purposes without the King's leave". Once-large royal grants became meagre, and the situation was exacerbated by the abbey not receiving monies rightfully due to them. Queen Eleanor had left it a legacy of 350 marks in her will, with the intention of establishing a
chantry
A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings:
# a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or
# a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...
in her name and contributing generally to the ongoing works. Twenty years later, the abbey was still owed over half this amount from her
executor
An executor is someone who is responsible for executing, or following through on, an assigned task or duty. The feminine form, executrix, may sometimes be used.
Overview
An executor is a legal term referring to a person named by the maker of a ...
s. By 1291 they were in arrears to the tune of £1,808; the King authorised a one-off payment of £808, but the remainder went unpaid until 1312, five years after King Edward's death.
The monks struggled to complete and manage the vast project without royal officials. Despite possessing a substantial income from its own lands and feudal dues, the abbey amassed large debts to other church institutions, royal officials, building contractors and even the merchants of
Lucca
Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957.
Lucca is known as one o ...
. Funds may have been misappropriated. Work stopped for at least a decade after 1290, at least in part due to the transference of the county revenues from the abbey to the newborn
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...
, who was also made Earl of Chester. Workmen refused to work for fear of not being paid. When the works eventually resumed they were on a much-reduced scale; if the King had suspected embezzlement at the abbey, by 1305, suggests the ''
History of the King's Works'', he had "relented" sufficiently to make them a grant of £40 to pay for the roof. The authors note that from then on, construction
With the accession of the Prince of Wales as King Edward II in 1307, some reimbursement for the abbey's funds arrived. £100 was sourced from The Peak, a nearby royal manor, and in 1312, they were granted £80 per annum from
Ashford in the Peak. This only lasted five years, when the King granted the manor to his brother
Edmund of Woodstock.
Relations with tenants
In addition to the burden of trying to finish the abbey buildings, Vale Royal faced other serious problems. As the medievalists
Gwilym Dodd and
Alison McHardy have emphasised, "a religious house, like any other landlord, depended on the income from its estates as the main source of its economic wellbeing", and from the late 12th century, monastic institutions were "particularly assiduous in...seeking to tighten the legal definition of servile status and tenure" for its tenantry. From its foundation, Vale Royal was no exception, and the monks' relationship with their tenants and neighbours soon deteriorated and remained usually poor. The abbey was resented by the people of Darnhall and Over, who found themselves under its feudal lordship. This made the previously free tenants
villein
A villein, otherwise known as ''cottar'' or ''crofter'', is a serf tied to the land in the feudal system. Villeins had more rights and social status than those in slavery, but were under a number of legal restrictions which differentiated them ...
s. Tenants of Darnhall attempted to withdraw from paying the abbot in 1275 (only a year after the abbey's foundation), and continued to feud with Vale Royal's abbots over the next fifty years. The dispute was mainly caused by forestry rights; the new abbey was in the
forest of Mondrem, which had been mostly
common land
Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect Wood fuel, wood, or to cut turf for fuel.
A person ...
until it was granted to the abbey. Keeping it common land would have prevented the monks from utilising it, so the abbey effectively received immunity from the foresting laws, and, say Bostock and Hogg, "almost certainly" over-reached itself regularly.
Abbots were also feudal lords, and not necessarily sympathetic landlords because of their ecclesiastical position; when their tenants appeared before the abbot's manorial court, they appeared before a judge and
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
applied. The abbots may have been oppressive landlords, with the people responding fiercely to what historian Richard Hilton called a form of "social degradation". With a generally uncertain income, and massive outgoings, the monks may have had to be harsh landlords, although they apparently undertook their duties as landlords with zeal. Scholars are uncertain as to whether the abbey was as harsh a landlord as the villagers claimed. Previous landlords, such as the earls of Chester, may have been lax in their enforcement of
serfdom
Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
, and so Darnhall and Over probably became accustomed to their relative freedom. Alternatively, the monks may have been lax in enforcement feudal laws, leading the villagers of Darnhall and its surrounding area to take advantage of them. The villagers prosecuted their struggle in earnest, sometimes in law and sometimes with violence. They attacked monastic officials a number of times; a monk was attacked and a servant killed while collecting
tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash or cheques or more r ...
s in Darnhall in 1320 (under
Abbot Richard of Evesham), and
Abbot Peter was killed in 1339 while defending the abbey. They made multiple approaches to both the King and Queen—often travelling great distances to do so—but to no avail.
Estates and finances
The village of Over was the centre of the abbey's estates, and was (like the surrounding villages) under the
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 ...
's
feudal lordship
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...
. The abbey's original
endowment at Darnhall included the
Delamere Forest
Delamere Forest is a large wood in the village of Delamere in Cheshire, England. The woodland, which is managed by Forestry England, covers an area of making it the largest area of woodland in the county. It contains a mixture of deciduous and ...
site, the manors in Darnhall, Langwith in the
East Riding of Yorkshire
The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire to t ...
, and the
advowsons
Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...
of
Frodsham
Frodsham is a market town, civil parish, and electoral ward in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. Its population was 8,982 in 2001, increasing to 9,077 at the 2011 Census. It is s ...
,
Weaverham
Weaverham is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire in England. Just off the A49, it is just to the west of Northwich and south of the River Weaver, and has a population of ...
, and
Ashbourne and Castleton. Further grants of land included
Conewardsly in 1276, followed in 1280 by estates on the
Wirral. The abbey also received manors belonging to members of the local
gentry
Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past.
Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies
''Gentry'', in its widest ...
in 1285, including those of
Hugh de Merton (around Over), Bradford and
Guilden Sutton
Guilden Sutton is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies approximately to the east of Chester and is south of the village of Mickle Traff ...
. Ashbourne, though, was not held for long; within a few years, Vale Royal was forced to cede the
advowson
Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...
to
Lincoln Cathedral
Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...
for £400. In exchange, the king arranged for Vale Royal to receive the wealthy
Kirkham Priory
The ruins of Kirkham Priory are situated on the banks of the River Derwent, at Kirkham, North Yorkshire, England. The Augustinian priory was founded in the 1120s by Walter l'Espec, lord of nearby Helmsley, who also built Rievaulx Abbey. Th ...
. Then in the possession of
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
, a combination of royal pressure and legal chicanery forced Shrewsbury to renounce its rights. According to Jeffrey Denton, "even
ale Royal'sown chronicler cast some doubt on the justice of these proceedings". The abbey had a
glassmaking
Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass.
Glass container ...
forge in Delamere Forest which earned a small profit for the first few decades of its operation, although—for now unknown reasons—it seems to have ceased production around 1309.
Wool exports were the abbey's main source of income. In 1283, Abbot Chaumpeneys acknowledged receipt of 53s 6d 8p as an advance on the abbey's eventual delivery of twelve sacks of ''collecta''. These transactions were made before the merchant sold the wool, with the proviso that the profit was returned to the monastery. In the mid-1330s, Abbot Peter calculated that the abbey's income was
£248 17s, of which £60 was spent on hospitality, £16 on wages for the abbey's servant staff, £21 for the abbot's expenses, £30 for defensive measures, and £50 in "gifts, damages and contributions". The remainder—insufficient, said Abbot Peter in 1336—was spent on the monks' everyday needs. By 1342, under Abbot
Robert de Cheyneston, the abbey was £20 in debt and a fire had burnt down its
monastic grange
Monastic granges were outlying landholdings held by monasteries independent of the manorial system. The first granges were owned by the Cistercians and other orders followed. Wealthy monastic houses had many granges, most of which were largely a ...
s at Bradford and
Hefferston; the monks, who lost all the corn in the granges, had to purchase enough to live on until the next harvest. Robert lamented the £100 he required to repair the granges, their
weir
A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...
s, portions of the church roof and the abbey building.
Vale Royal's finances seem to have improved by the 15th century. Two taxes assessed the abbey at £346 0s. 4d in 1509 and, twenty-six years later, at £540 6s 2d. Income was up, and expenses were down; about £92 was spent in 1509, and slightly over £21 in 1535. Although the abbey was wealthy in goods and oxen, it had many fewer monks then originally intended;
the abbot of Dore, visiting Vale Royal in 1509, found fifteen resident monks instead of a reported population of thirty.
Later middle ages
In spite of the abbey's financial difficulties, building continued, albeit at a slow pace, and by 1330 the monks were able to move from their "temporary" dwellings into their main quarters. The same year also saw the completion of the east end of the church—the remainder still a shell—and enough of the cloister buildings to make the abbey habitable, although far from complete. Much of the main vault remained exposed to the Cheshire weather. Royal funding had nearly dried up, and Abbot Peter complained in 1336 that vaults, cloisters, the
chapter house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...
and dormitories were yet to be built. He complained that,
Abbot Robert de Cheyneston—in office between about 1340 and 1345—may have been responsible for roofing the choir and the church's north end in lead.
In 1353 brought cause for renewed hope.
Edward the Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, su ...
—
King Edward III's son and heir (now the
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 ...
)—was fully invested in his father's
wars in France, and Cheshire was an important source of troops. The prince lavishly patronised the county's gentry and institutions, with Vale Royal (described by Anthony Emery as an "extravagant 'war' church") foremost among them. Edward had nominally taken Vale Royal under his protection in 1340, was keen to see the abbey completed. He donated substantial funds: 500 marks in cash immediately, with the same amount paid five years later when visited personally. In 1359, Prince Edward granted Vale Royal the advowson and church of
Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion
Llanbadarn Fawr is a village and community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is on the outskirts of Aberystwyth next to Penparcau and Southgate. It forms the eastern part of the continually built-up area of Aberystwyth. It holds two electoral wards, Padar ...
to further finance construction.
William Helpeston was contracted to oversee construction in August 1359, for which the abbey contracted to provide—on top of his wages—board and lodging for himself and his men. Their tools and fuel would also be paid for. He would also receive a life
annuity
In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, mo ...
of 40 shillings a year. This work was expected to take six years, although in the event went over time: a commission to impress masons in 1354 had to be renewed six years later. The
abbey choir was completed during the first year; scholars are now uncertain as to what degree Helpeston was still building in accordance with de Hereford's 13th-century plans or was introducing elements of his own design. Helpeston plans provided for an
apsidal
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
choir comprising an
ambulatory
The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...
and thirteen chapels, seven
heptagonal protruding and six, smaller rectangular chapels facing inwards. There were problems with securing Helpston's continued commitment; his contract was renegotiated within the year; this time, it was specified that rather than being paid directly, the money would be paid to the abbot who would then pay Helpeston having inspected his work.
Work focussed on completing the shell of the
nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
and developing the east end, and may have been based on a similar design for
Toledo Cathedral
, native_name_lang =
, image = Toledo Cathedral, from Plaza del Ayuntamiento.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, imagelink =
, imagealt =
, landscape =
, caption ...
. During a great storm on 19 October 1359, however, much of the nave (including the new lead roof installed by the previous abbot) was blown down and destroyed. The
arcades of the unfinished nave were reduced to rubble. The destruction ranged "from the wall at the west end to the bell-tower before the gates of the choir", and the timber
scaffolding
Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures. Scaffolds are widely use ...
collapsed "like trees uprooted by the wind". There are no recorded indications of poor building practices or degraded fabric to the construction, and the now-destroyed nave presented its own architectural problems for rebuilding.
Repairs were slowly made over the next thirteen years, and Abbot Thomas may have been responsible for the "unique chevet of seven radiating chapels", which were built by de Hepleston and cost £860. This was "clearly intended to be the crowning feature of the great church". Work was still being done in 1368 when the Prince of Wales recommissioned the masons for the third time. The remodelled church would now be smaller than before, with the nave proportionally reduced in height and width. The Black Prince died in 1376, and, says ''The King's Works'', "it must have been obvious to the monks that the days of royal munificence were over". Work continued on the same reduced scale took place into the reign of
Richard II
Richard II (6 January 1367 – ), also known as Richard of Bordeaux, was King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399. He was the son of Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales, and Joan, Countess of Kent. Richard's father died ...
, who patronised the abbey on a small scale in honour of it being a royal foundation. The King was reported to be "much pleased" at the reduction in both the abbey's size and cost.
Repairs and construction continued sporadically into the 15th century, with an aisle installed in the middle of the church in 1422. Little else is known of the abbey until the reign of
King 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 disag ...
in the 16th century.
Relations with local gentry
Relations with the
gentry
Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past.
Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies
''Gentry'', in its widest ...
were no better in the later Middle Ages than they had been with the tenantry years earlier, and the gentry also often came to blows with the monks. The abbey was involved in feuds with a number of the prominent local families, frequently ending in large-scale violence. During the 14th and 15th centuries, Vale Royal was beset by other scandals. Many abbots were incompetent,
venal
Venality is a vice associated with being bribeable or willing to sell one's services or power, especially when people are intended to act in a decent way instead. In its most recognizable form, venality causes people to lie and steal for their own ...
, or criminally inclined, and the house was often grossly mismanaged. Discipline grew lax; disorder at the abbey during this period prompted reports of serious crimes, including attempted murder. Abbot Henry Arrowsmith, who had a particular reputation for lawlessness, was hacked to death in 1437 by a group of men (one of whom was the
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...
of Over) in revenge for a suspected rape by one of the abbey's monks. Although the abbey was taken under royal supervision in 1439, there was no immediate improvement, and Vale Royal of the
General Chapter
A chapter ( la, capitulum or ') is one of several bodies of clergy in Roman Catholic, Old Catholic, Anglican, and Nordic Lutheran churches or their gatherings.
Name
The name derives from the habit of convening monks or canons for the read ...
, the international Cistercian governing body, during the 1450s. The chapter ordered senior abbots to investigate the abbey, which the abbots concluded was in a "damnable and sinister" situation in 1455. Things then improved somewhat, and Vale Royal's last years were peaceful and well-ordered. Some building work continued, as records attest to grants of timber for repairs were made in 1510 and 1515.
The abbot of Dore
visited Vale Royal in 1509—by which time the abbey held 19 monks—and made a brief inventory of its rooms, including the Abbot's chambers (which were described as containing "a suitable couch, ten coverlets, four mattresses, two feather beds and twelve pairs of linen sheets"). According to archaeologist S. J. Moorhouse, luxuries such as these indicate how far the Cistercian focus had drifted from the order's original asceticism.
Last abbatial election
Abbot
John Butler John Butler may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*John "Picayune" Butler (died 1864), American performer
*John Butler (artist) (1890–1976), American artist
* John Butler (author) (born 1937), British author and YouTuber
*John Butler (born 1954), ...
died in summer 1535. The election of his replacement indicates the extent to which the local gentry interfered in the house's internal affairs.
William Brereton and
Piers Dutton
Sir Piers Dutton (died 17 August 1545) was the lord of the manor of Dutton from 1527 until his death. He was involved in the closing of Norton Abbey during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536. He started rebuilding Dutton Hall in 1539.
E ...
—local knights and rivals for regional power in the county—both proposed their own candidates. The election became mired in corruption; Dutton's man, for example, offered
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
—Henry VIII's
chief minister—£100 and promised to him "as large pleasure as any man" in future.
Adam Beconsall and
Thomas Legh—the monastic visitor, who himself had accepted a £15 bribe—backed one
John Hareware, the former abbot of
Hulton Abbey
Hulton Abbey is a scheduled monument in the United Kingdom, a former monastery located in what is now Abbey Hulton, a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent. A daughter house of the Cistercian Combermere Abbey, the abbey was founded by Henry de Audley in th ...
. Furthermore, Queen
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...
herself also favoured a particular candidate. In the event, King Henry ordered a free election, and this saw Hareware elected. Although his candidate had lost, Brereton still managed to wrangle granted an annual pension of £20 from Hareware for the rest of Brereton's life. More importantly for the new abbot, Cromwell was appointed steward of the abbey by the King. In common with many other monasteries—by now aware of their impending dissolution—Hareware began raising ready cash. This was done by means of negotiating long tenancies for their lands at very low rents in exchange for high entry fees.
Dissolution
By 1535 Vale Royal was one of only six monastic institutions remaining in Cheshire. It was reported that year's ''
Valor Ecclesiasticus
The ''Valor Ecclesiasticus'' (Latin: "church valuation") was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII. It was colloquially called the Kings books, a s ...
'' as possessing an income of £540, making it the wealthiest of the 13th-century Cistercian foundations and the fourth-wealthiest overall. Much of the income seems to have been increasingly used for bribing the local gentry and providing them with pensions. The income enabled Vale Royal to escape dissolution under the
First Suppression Act
The Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535 ( 27 Hen 8 c 28; 1536 in modern dating), also referred to as the Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries and as the Dissolution of Lesser Monasteries Act, was an Act of the Parliament of ...
,
King Henry VIII's initial move in the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, by which time its population had declined to 15 monks.
Abbot John Hareware pursued a two-pronged policy of attempting to ensure the abbey's survival and, if that failed, the security of himself and his brethren. Hareware bribed courtiers, influential nobles and (in particular) chief minister
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
with money and property in an attempt to gain a respite for the abbey, and leased most of the abbey lands to friends and associates of the monastery to keep them out of royal hands if the abbey fell. Many of the leases had a clause voiding them if the abbey survived. Hareware sold its other assets, such as livestock and timber, for cash.
![St Mary's Church, Whitegate2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/St_Mary%27s_Church%2C_Whitegate2.jpg)
The process of dissolution at Vale Royal was begun in September 1538 by the royal commissioner
Thomas Holcroft
Thomas Holcroft (10 December 174523 March 1809) was an English dramatist, miscellanist, poet and translator. He was sympathetic to the early ideas of the French Revolution and helped Thomas Paine to publish the first part of ''The Rights of Ma ...
, who was ordered to "take and recyve" the abbey from Hareware. The situation grew legally murky as Holcroft, probably with a forged signature on the deed of exchange, claimed that the abbey had surrendered to him on 7 September. The abbot (and abbey) denied doing so, questioning Holcroft's authority. Holcroft then alleged that the abbot had attempted to take over the abbey himself, and had tried to conspire with Holcroft to commit land fraud. The monks continued to petition the government, particularly Thomas Cromwell, who was responsible for church affairs in his role as
vicar general
A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...
during the
Royal Supremacy
The Acts of Supremacy are two acts passed by the Parliament of England in the 16th century that established the English monarchs as the head of the Church of England; two similar laws were passed by the Parliament of Ireland establishing the Eng ...
. Hareware wrote to the chief minister during his journey to London:
In December 1538, Abbot John and his community received a
papal dispensation
In the jurisprudence of the canon law of the Catholic Church, a dispensation is the exemption from the immediate obligation of law in certain cases.The Law of Christ Vol. I, pg. 284 Its object is to modify the hardship often arising from the ...
to change
habits
A habit (or wont as a humorous and formal term) is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. and temporarily join another order. With some disquiet probable in government circles about the legitimacy of the Vale Royal surrender, steps were taken to put the matter beyond doubt. A special court was held at the abbey on 31 March 1539, with Cromwell the judge. Instead of investigating the circumstances of the surrender the court charged the abbot with
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
and conspiracy in the murder of a monk (who had committed suicide) in 1536. He was also accused of "treasonous utterances" during the
Pilgrimage of Grace
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 "most ...
; both murder and treason were
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...
crimes. The abbot was found guilty, and Vale Royal was declared forfeited to the crown. Abbot John was not executed: rather, he was given a substantial pension of £60 per year and the abbey's
silver plate
Plating is a surface covering in which a metal is deposited on a conductive surface. Plating has been done for hundreds of years; it is also critical for modern technology. Plating is used to decorate objects, for corrosion inhibition, to impro ...
, indicating that the trial was a means of pressuring him to acquiesce to Cromwell. The rest of the community were also pensioned off, and Exchequer records indicate that Abbot John lived until at least 1546. The abbey's immediate estates were incorporated into the new parish of Whitegate.
Later history
![Vale royal abbey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Vale_royal_abbey.jpg)
After protracted negotiations with the crown, Thomas Holcroft leased Vale Royal. Previously an obscure member of the lower Cheshire gentry, the acquisition made him a man of substance. In 1539 he demolished the church, telling King Henry in a letter that it was "plucked down". On 7 March 1544, the King confirmed Holcroft's ownership by granting him the abbey and much of its estates for £450. Holcroft further removed many of the abbey's domestic buildings, retaining the south and west cloister ranges—including the abbot's house and the monks' dining hall and kitchen—as the core of his mansion (which was centred on the abbey cloister). Holcroft built a grand external staircase to his new first-floor entrance, which, suggests the archaeologist
J. Patrick Greene
J. Patrick Greene is a British archaeologist and museum director. He served as Director of the Science and Industry Museum, in Manchester, England from 1983 to 2002, and then CEO of Museums Victoria in Australia from 2002 to 2017.
Biography
Green ...
, "reinforced the visual reminder to all visitors that a new regime now prevailed" at Vale Royal. Holcroft retained the abbey gatehouse as the courtyard's entrance, and leased the abbey and its lands until he was
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
ed in 1544 when he purchased it outright.
Holcroft's heirs lived at Vale Royal until 1615. During their residency
canted bay windows were introduced to the front of the
wing
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...
s which, along with their accompanying
mullions
A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...
and
transoms, have been described by Pevsner as "a remarkably early instance of
Elizabethan revivalism". It was also around this time that the "crude gothic porch" of Holcroft's was moved to the ground floor. At this date the house came into the hands of the
Cholmondeley family (later
Lords Delamere).
Mary Cholmondeley
Mary Cholmondeley (usually pronounced /ˈtʃʌmli/, 8 June 1859 – 15 July 1925) was an English novelist. Her bestseller, '' Red Pottage'', satirised religious hypocrisy and the narrowness of country life. It was adapted as a silent film in 19 ...
(1562–1625), a powerful widow with extensive properties in the area, bought the abbey as a home for herself when her eldest son inherited the primary family estates at
Cholmondeley. In August 1617, she entertained
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
and a
stag
Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...
-hunting party at Vale Royal.
The king enjoyed himself so much that he
knighted
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
two members of the family and, in a letter written shortly after his visit, offered to advance the political careers of Lady Mary's sons if they would come to court. His offer was so firmly refused that the King called her "the Bolde Lady of Cheshire". Mary passed the abbey and estate to her fourth son, Thomas (who founded the family's Vale Royal branch), at her death in 1625.
During the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...
, the Cholmondeleys supported
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
. Their allegiance had serious consequences; fighting took place at Vale Royal, the house was looted, and the building's south wing was burned down by
Parliamentarian forces commanded by
General John Lambert.
Despite this, the Cholmondeley family continued to live in the abbey. A southeast wing, designed by
Edward Blore
Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary.
Early career
He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore.
Blore's backg ...
, was added to the building in 1833. In 1860,
Hugh Cholmondeley, Baron Delamere commissioned Chester architect
John Douglas to recast the centre of the south range (which had been
timber-framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
). Douglas added a southwest wing the following year and altered the dining room. The church of St Mary, the ''capella extra portis'' (chapel outside the abbey gates), remained opposite the west lodge. The church was largely rebuilt in 1728, incorporating ''
fabrica ecclesiae
In the Catholic Church, ''fabrica ecclesiæ'' () is a term meaning, etymologically, the construction of a church, but in a broader sense the funds necessary for such construction.
This expression may also be used to designate the repairing and ma ...
'' from a timber-framed church probably dating to the 14th century. In 1874–1875 Douglas remodelled St Mary's, changing its external appearance but retaining much of the internal structure.
![Vale-Royal-Abbey-Douglas](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/Vale-Royal-Abbey-Douglas.jpg)
The Cholmondeley family lived in the abbey for over 300 years. In 1907 they rented it to a wealthy
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
businessman Robert Dempster. Dempster had made his fortune from R & J Dempster and Sons, a gas-engineering company he founded in 1883. His second daughter,
Edith
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...
, was born that year and lived at Vale Royal with her father until his 1925 death in South Africa. He was buried at Whitegate Church, near the abbey. Edith inherited half of his fortune and all of his personal effects, including the lease on Vale Royal. In the spring of 1926, she married Frank Pretty at Whitegate Church. Edith gave up the lease on Vale Royal and purchased the relatively modest
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a ...
estate later that year. Frank died at the end of 1934; Edith hired archaeologist
Basil Brown
Basil John Wait Brown (22 January 1888 – 12 March 1977) was an English archaeologist and astronomer. Self-taught, he discovered and excavated a 6th-century Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo in 1939, which has come to be called "one of th ...
to excavate some of the mounds on the Sutton Hoo estate in 1939, discovering northern Europe's richest Anglo-Saxon burial ground.
Another Cholmondeley,
Thomas, Baron Delamere, moved into the abbey in 1934; he was forced out in 1939, when the government took over Vale Royal to use as a
sanatorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
for convalescing soldiers during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. The Cholmondeleys regained the abbey after the war before selling it to
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain.
It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926.
Its headquarters were at M ...
(ICI) in 1947. The company initially used the abbey as staff accommodation and, from 1954 to 1961, as the headquarters of its
salt
Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantitie ...
and
alkali
In chemistry, an alkali (; from ar, القلوي, al-qaly, lit=ashes of the saltwort) is a basic, ionic salt of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal. An alkali can also be defined as a base that dissolves in water. A solution of a ...
division. In 1958 they permitted (and assisted with labour and facilities) an extensive archaeological excavation, which was intended to complete an earlier dig of 1911–1912.
ICI moved out in 1961. There were abortive schemes to use the abbey as a health centre, a
country club
A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offer ...
, a school and a prison. In 1977, the abbey became a residential care home for people with
learning disabilities
Learning disability, learning disorder, or learning difficulty (British English) is a condition in the brain that causes difficulties comprehending or processing information and can be caused by several different factors. Given the "difficult ...
. In 1998, Vale Royal became a private golf club. A proposal to turn the house into flats led to a detailed 1998 archaeological study by the
Chester Archaeological Society.
Archaeological investigations and discovery of remains
Nothing remains of the great church and "virtually nothing" of the other ecclesiastical buildings, although archaeological work has revealed many details of the church's structure. According to A. Emery, "detailed examination of the roof ... has revealed hidden structural evidence beneath layers of post-medieval changes". Excavations by the Manchester architect
Basil Pendleton were made in 1911–1912, which he focused around the Nun's Grave. Pendleton established that the church had been long, with a decoratively floored nave. The combined width of the east and west transepts was . The remainder of the construction was, at various times, around a grassed
quadrangle–possibly a
herb garden
The traditional kitchen garden, vegetable garden, also known as a potager (from the French ) or in Scotland a kailyaird, is a space separate from the rest of the residential garden – the ornamental plants and lawn areas. It is used for grow ...
. Apart from the church (which took up the east side of the square), the buildings consisted of a chapter house, the abbot's dwelling, guest accommodations, and the outbuildings necessary for the upkeep of the community and its agricultural work.
Much of the abbey's stonework was sold by Holcroft when it was destroyed. Some was used to build a common well; at least one domestic garden in
Northwich
{{Infobox UK place
, static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg
, static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church
, official_name = Northwich
, country ...
contained original carvings and
bosses, and abbey stones were found in the walls of three other houses. It is possible that the ceiling of Weaverham church's north aisle came from Vale Royal. Holcroft also rebuilt the western grange for his own use with stone from the church. The south wing of the extant building incorporates the original
refectory
A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the La ...
roof, which has been
dendrochronologically dated to the second half of the 15th century. It consisted, writes Emery, "of a timber-framed three-bay hall, open to the roof, flanked by a pair of single bay rooms, the whole set above a masonry ground floor". The 1958 excavation uncovered the 1359 additions, including the
chevet apse. Pieces of
stained glass
Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...
were uncovered in Delamere Forest, while
Purbeck marble
Purbeck Marble is a fossiliferous limestone found in the Isle of Purbeck, a peninsula in south-east Dorset, England. It is a variety of Purbeck stone that has been quarried since at least Roman times as a decorative building stone.
Geology
Strat ...
and other architectural fragments were also found.
Historian Jeffrey Denton has suggested that Vale Royal Abbey has been relatively unexamined by scholars because of its near-total mid-16th-century destruction; "had it survived, our views of Edward I's relations with the Church may well have been radically different". A circular stone monument, known as the Nun's Grave, reportedly commemorates Sister Ida, thought to be a 14th-century Cheshire nun who nursed an unnamed Vale Royal abbot, and who was buried at the high altar. The monument was erected by the Cholmondeley family, possibly to lend credence to the legend of the nun. The material in its construction is from three sources: the head from a medieval cross whose four panels depict the crucifixion, the virgin and child Jesus, St. Catherine and St. Nicholas; the shaft, made of sandstone in the 17th century; and a
plinth
A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In c ...
from a reclaimed pillar base. Pevsner's ''Buildings of England'' has described the monument as looking "convincingly late 13th-century", and notes other remnants of pillars around the grounds "of great size and elaboration". The present country house on the site incorporates parts of the south and west ranges; the former has a door arch from the abbey, one of the few elements of the original abbey which is still visible. At least some of the original abbey still survives to the first floor; in 1992 a
British Archaeological Association
The British Archaeological Association (BAA) was founded in 1843 and aims to inspire, support and disseminate high quality research in the fields of Western archaeology, art and architecture, primarily of the mediaeval period, through lectures, co ...
study discovered late-medieval
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
scratched into plasterwork on an internal wall. Holcroft's Tudor house also stands. The building is a Grade II* listed building, and St Mary's church is
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
at Grade II, while what remains of Vale Royal Abbey is a
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 ...
.
See also
*
Abbot of Vale Royal
Vale Royal Abbey is a medieval abbey, and later a country house, located in Whitegate, between Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, England. During its 278-year period of operation, it had at least 21 abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title ...
*
*
Listed buildings in Whitegate and Marton
Whitegate and Marton is a civil parish in Cheshire West and Chester, England. It contains 33 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. One of these, Vale Royal Abbey is listed at ...
*
List of houses and associated buildings by John Douglas
John Douglas (1830–1911) was an English architect based in Chester, Cheshire. His designs included new churches, alterations to and restoration of existing churches, church furnishings, new houses and alterations to existing houses, and a v ...
*
Round Tower Lodge
The Round Tower Lodge, also known simply as the Round Tower, is situated in the central reservation of the A556 road in Sandiway, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed ...
Notes
References
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External links
Information on the abbey from the Sheffield University site about Cistercian abbeys in the UKThe Ledger Book of Vale Royal abbey: the main record book of the abbey. First published by the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1914 – full-text version as part of British History OnlineInformation about the stained glass from the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA) of Great Britain
{{Monasteries in Cheshire
Religious organizations established in the 1270s
Monasteries in Cheshire
Cistercian monasteries in England
Whitegate
Christian monasteries established in the 13th century
Edward Blore buildings
Cholmondeley family
John Douglas buildings
Archaeological sites in Cheshire
1270 establishments in England
1538 disestablishments in England
Abbots of Vale Royal Abbey
Edward I of England
Golf clubs and courses in Cheshire
Buildings and structures in Cheshire
Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation