Furness Abbey, Barrow In Furness, Cumbria

Photograph taken 1898 © Reproduced by permission of Historic England Archive ref: AA97/07499

St Mary of Furness was founded in 1123 by Stephen who became King of England. By Tudor times it was the second richest Cistercian house in England. It was dissolved in 1537 after some of the monks became involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace. In 1539 the abbey and its land was granted to Henry VIII's first minister, Thomas Cromwell. This view is taken from the nave showing the crossing and transcept walls. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2010).

Location

Cumbria Barrow in Furness

Period

Medieval (Middle Ages) (1066 - 1484)

Themes

A nunnery was first documented here in 603. A monastery was founded during the abbacy of Aldhelm (c675-705). It became Benedictine in the reign of Edgar (959–975) and remained so until dissolved in 1539. The final Abbey Church was built circa 1160-70 and had 13th/14th and 15th century additions. The 431 feet (131 m) tall spire, collapsed in a storm around 1500. The west tower fell around 1550. As a result of these two collapses, less than half of the original building stands today. The abbey was closed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by Henry VIII. It was sold, with all its lands, to William Stumpe, a rich merchant. He gave the abbey church to the town for continuing use as a parish church, and filled the abbey buildings with twenty looms for his cloth-weaving enterprise.
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Furness Abbey, Barrow In Furness, Cumbria

Location

Period

Themes

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