Croxden Abbey, also known as "Abbey of the Vale of St. Mary at Croxden", was 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 B ...

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 c ...

Croxden Croxden is a village in the county of Staffordshire, England, south of Alton, Staffordshire, Alton and north of Uttoxeter. The population of the civil parish as taken at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 255. The village is the site ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

. A daughter house of the abbey in Aunay-sur-Odon, Normandy, the abbey was founded by Bertram III de Verdun of

Alton Castle Alton Castle is a Gothic-revival castle, on a hill above the Churnet Valley, in the village of Alton, Staffordshire, England. The site has been fortified in wood since Saxon times, with a stone castle dating from the 12th century. The current ...

, Staffordshire, in the 12th century. The abbey was dissolved in 1538.

History

Foundation and early history

left, 250px, The ruins of the abbey chapterhouse In 1176, Bertram III de Verdun, the

lord of the manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

of Croxden, endowed a site for a new abbey near

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

, Staffordshire, to a group of 12 Cistercian monks from

Aunay-sur-Odon Aunay-sur-Odon (, literally ''Aunay on Odon'') is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Les Monts d'Aunay. The inhabitants of the commun ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. Bertram founded the abbey, like many

noblemen Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...

of his time, for the souls of his family and on the condition that the monks would celebrate

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 ele ...

''for the souls of Norman de Verdun, my father, and of Lescelina, my mother, and of Richard de Humez, who brought me up, and of my predecessors; and for the well-being of myself and Rohais my wife, and my successors''; The monks remained at the Alton site until 1179, before moving to land near Croxden, a few miles south. Grants of land were made by Bertram de Verdun to the abbey across Staffordshire,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county tow ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

, along with the churches of Alton and Tugby, and two chapels at Keythorpe and

East Norton East Norton is a small village and parish located in the east of Leicestershire, adjoining the A47 Leicester to Uppingham road. According to the 2001 Census, it had a population of 94 in 37 households. The population remained less than 100 at t ...

. The abbey continued to expand into the 13th century, with King John awarding the monks an annuity of £5 from the

Exchequer of Ireland The Exchequer of Ireland was a body in the Kingdom of Ireland tasked with collecting royal revenue. Modelled on the English Exchequer, it was created in 1210 after King John of England applied English law and legal structure to his Lordship of ...

in 1200, before exchanging it for land in

Adeney Adeney is a hamlet in the English county of Shropshire, in the civil parish of Edgmond Edgmond is a village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. The village population at the 2011 Census was 2 ...

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 ...

, in 1206. Croxden was relatively prosperous at this time, drawing the majority of its wealth from sheep farming. By 1315, the monks were supplying more wool to the continent than any other religious house in the county, with transactions being recorded with Florentine merchants well into the 1420s. The abbey's wealth is reflected in the purchase of a house in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

by abbot William of Over for £20.

Decline and dissolution

By the 14th century, Croxden's financial situation had worsened. The strains of royal taxation, the repayment of loans and the imposition of a

corrodian Corrodians were in essence pensioners who lived in monasteries or nunneries. They were usually well-to-do elderly lay people who paid or were sponsored for accommodation and food for the rest of their lives. This payment might be in cash but would m ...

combined with bad harvests and plague were a drain on the abbey's resources. With the death of Theobald II de Verdun, the last of the senior direct male line of the family in 1316, leaving four daughters as his heirs, the patronage of the abbey became the inheritance of the eldest heiress Joan de Verdun, who married secondly Thomas de Furnivall, 2nd

Baron Furnivall Baron Furnivall is an ancient title in the Peerage of England. It was originally created (by writ) when Thomas de Furnivall was summoned to the Model Parliament on 24 June 1295 as Lord Furnivall. The barony eventually passed to Thomas Nevill, wh ...

of Hallamshire, into whose family Alton and Croxden passed. There was a number of serious disputes between the monks and de Furnivall concerning his use of abbey lands and property, culminating in the monks barricading themselves within the abbey for 16 weeks in 1319. It wasn't until July 1319, with the help of other local landowners, that the monks received an

assize of novel disseisin In English law, the assize of novel disseisin ("recent dispossession"; ) was an action to recover lands of which the plaintiff had been disseised, or dispossessed. It was one of the so-called "petty (possessory) assizes" established by Henry II i ...

and their property usage was returned to them. With an income of less than £200 per year the abbey should have been suppressed under the

Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535 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 ...

, which dictated all religious houses with a low annual income should be dissolved. The monks paid a fine of £100 for a royal licence to continue, until 1537 when the abbey was surrendered and the land and property sold off. The king granted the monks pensions, with the last abbot receiving an annual sum of £26 13s. 4d. Two 16th-century deeds relating to the abbey's property, just prior to its dissolution, are held at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham.

After dissolution

The mid-13th-century chapel survived as the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...

for the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

of Croxden until 1886, when it was replaced by newer building to the north. In 1936 the site passed into the care of the Ministry of Public Building and Works, and is today managed by

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 ...

. The substantial ruins of a number of the buildings are still standing and, thanks to excavations in 1968, the foundations of some demolished buildings are also traceable.

Layout and architecture

The design of the church was based on the abbey's

mother church Mother church or matrice is a term depicting the Christian Church as a mother in her functions of nourishing and protecting the believer. It may also refer to the primary church of a Christian denomination or diocese, i.e. a cathedral or a metropo ...

and is considered more elaborate than most Cistercian architecture. The west wall, including two doorways and lancet windows above them, is still almost complete. The conventual and service buildings were situated to the south of the church, and include a

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually locate ...

, chapterhouse,

kitchen A kitchen is a room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a stove, a sink with hot and cold running wate ...

and

dormitory A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or universi ...

. The upper floors which included the dormitory and a

treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...

are no longer extant.

The Uttoxeter Casket

The Uttoxeter Casket or Dr Nelson's Casket is an Anglo Saxon reliquary which likely came from Croxden Abbey. It probably held a religious relic and was displayed on an altar. The casket currently resides in the

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

Burials

* Bertram III de Verdun, founder of the Abbey. *Rohese de Verdun (also recorded as 'Rohais'), wife of Bertram III de Verdun. *

Theobald de Verdun, 2nd Baron Verdun Theobald de Verdun (1278–1316) was the second and eldest surviving son of Theobald de Verdun, 1st Baron Verdun, of Alton, Staffordshire, and his wife Margery de Bohun. The elder Theobald was the son of John de Verdon, otherwise Le Botiller, ...

, who married 1st Matilda Mortimer and 2nd (as her 2nd husband)

Elizabeth de Clare Elizabeth de Clare, 11th Lady of Clare (16 September 1295 – 4 November 1360) was the heiress to the lordships of Clare, Suffolk, in England and Usk in Wales. She was the youngest of the three daughters of Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertfo ...

, youngest daughter of

Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester (2 September 1243 – 7 December 1295) was a powerful English noble. He was also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare or "The Red Earl", probably because of his hair colour or fiery temp ...

and

Joan of Acre Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was an English princess, a daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. The name " Acre" derives from her birthplace in the Holy Land while her parents were on a crusade. She was married t ...

and widow of John de Burgh, heir apparent to the Earldom of Ulster. *Matilda Mortimer (otherwise 'Maud'), daughter of

Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer Edmund Mortimer, 2nd Baron Mortimer of Wigmore (c. 1251 – 17 July 1304) was the second son and eventual heir of Roger Mortimer, 1st Baron Mortimer of Wigmore. His mother was Maud de Braose. Life As a younger son, Edmund had been intended for ...

and 1st wife of Theobald de Verdun, 2nd Baron Verdun.

References

External links

History on Croxden Abbey: English Heritage
{{Coord, 52, 57, 16, N, 1, 54, 13, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title English Heritage sites in Staffordshire Monasteries in Staffordshire Ruins in Staffordshire Tourist attractions in Staffordshire Cistercian monasteries in England Religious organizations established in the 1170s 1538 disestablishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Grade I listed buildings in Staffordshire 1179 establishments in England Cheadle, Staffordshire Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation