Sawtry Abbey 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 ...

abbey located between

Sawtry Sawtry () is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Sawtry lies approximately north of Huntingdon. Sawtry is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic ...

and Woodwalton in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The abbey was founded in 1147 by

Simon II de Senlis Simon II de Senlis (or Senliz, St. Liz, etc.), 4th Earl of the Honour of Huntingdon and Northampton ( 1098 – 1153) was an Anglo-Norman nobleman. He was the son of Simon I de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon-Northampton and Maud, Countess of Huntin ...

, Earl of Northampton, who was the grandson of Earl Waltheof and Judith, the niece of

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

who held the manor when the

Domesday Survey Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

was compiled.The Abbey of Sawtry
''A History of the County of Huntingdon'': Volume 1 (1926), pp. 391-392. Retrieved 18 September 2010. It is the only Cistercian abbey in the county. A colony of monks from

Wardon Abbey Wardon or Warden Abbey, Bedfordshire, was one of the senior Cistercian houses of England, founded about 1135 from Rievaulx Abbey. It is a Grade I listed building. History The patron was Walter Espec, who had founded the mother house and set ...

in Bedfordshire joined the new monastery, which was founded as an independent abbey. Due to its proximity to other monasteries, disputes over tithes and land with the abbots of

Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England * Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England ** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey" * Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...

and Thorney often occurred during the 13th century. During the 14th century, the abbot of Sawtry was often recorded as being in debt, although the exact cause is unknown. Indeed, very few documents relating to the abbey survive. The abbey was worth less than £200 a year, and at the Dissolution of the Monasteries the whole establishment was disbanded before December 1536. Of the 12 monks and 22

conversi Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

only the abbot, William Angell, received a pension of £10. Following the dissolution in 1536, the church, conventual buildings, gate-house, bell tower and even the old parish church of Sawtry Judith were demolished. Stone was removed from the site as late as the 19th century. Excavations took place between 1907 and 1913. The layout of most of the abbey was recovered. The church was cruciform with short transepts and choir. The cloisters were located to the south and to their East was an infirmary or Abbots lodging. A guest house was situated south-west of the cloister. The earthworks were resurveyed and are well preserved. The site has been scheduled since 1954.

Burials

Isobel of Huntingdon Isobel of Huntingdon (1199–1251), also known as Isobel the Scot, was the younger daughter of David of Scotland, 8th Earl of Huntingdon, grandson of David I of Scotland, by his marriage to Matilda of Chester. She married Robert Bruce, 4th Lord ...

David, Earl of Huntingdon David of Scotland (Medieval Gaelic: ''Dabíd'') (1152 – 17 June 1219) was a Scottish prince and 8th Earl of Huntingdon. He was, until 1198, heir to the Scottish throne. Life He was the youngest surviving son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of ...

Matilda of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon Matilda of Chester, Countess of Huntingdon (1171 – 6 January 1233) was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman, sometimes known as Maud and sometimes known with the surname de Kevelioc. She was a daughter of Hugh de Kevelioc, 5th Earl of Chester, and the ...

*Beatrice de Teyden *

Margaret of Huntingdon, Duchess of Brittany Margaret of Huntingdon (1145 – 1201) was a Scottish princess and Duchess of Brittany. She was the sister of Scottish kings Malcolm IV and William I, wife of Conan IV, Duke of Brittany, and the mother of Constance, Duchess of Brittany. Her second ...

*Lady Margaret Fraser Keith, d. 1410

References

External links

Ground plan
at ''huntingdonshire.info'' {{coord, 52, 25, 39, N, 0, 14, 22, W, display=title, Monasteries in Cambridgeshire 1147 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 1536 disestablishments in England Cistercian monasteries in England Scheduled monuments in Cambridgeshire Sawtry