Welbeck Abbey

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Contents 1 Monastic 1.1 Abbots of Welbeck Abbey 2 Country house 3 Welbeck today 4 List of owners and occupiers 5 Links

Welbeck Abbey, head abbey of the Premonstratensian order in England, and principal residence of the Dukes of Portland.

[edit] Monastic

The area of land it occupies was first mentioned in the Doomsday Book, where it is recorded as belonging to one Hugh FitzBaldric. Thomas de Cuckney founded an abbey on the site in 1140.

It was an abbey of Premonstratensian canons dedicated to St. James. The abbey was enriched by liberal gifts from the Goushills, D’Eyncourts, Bassets, and other families of the county ; and it also received a considerable grant from Edward I. With so much wealth at his disposal, the Abbot of Welbeck was an influential man, and all the houses of the order in England were placed under his care in 1512.

[edit] Abbots of Welbeck Abbey

Berengar, occurs between 1153 and 1169 Adam, occurs between 1183 and 1194 Richard, occurs between 1194 and 1224 William, occurs 1229, 1236, 1243 Richard, occurs 1250, 1252, 1256-7 Adam, occurs 1263, 1272, 1276 Thomas, occurs 1281, 1292 John de Duckmanton, 1309 John de Cestrefeld, 1310 William de Kendall, 1316 John de Nottingham, 1322 William de Aslakeden, 1335 Robert Spalding, 1341 John de Wirksop, 1349

Hugh de Langley, 1360 George de Gamelston, occurs 1369, 1383, 1387 William de Staveley, occurs 1389 John Bankwell, occurs 1393 John de Norton, occurs 1412, dies 1450 John Greene, 1450 William Burton, occurs 1475, 1482 John Lancaster alias Acastre, occurs 1488, 1491 John Copper, occurs 1492 Thomas Wydur, occurs 1494, 1497, 1500 Robert, occurs 1502 Thomas Wilkinson, 1503 John Maxey, 1520, died 1536 Richard Bentley, surrendered 1538

[edit] Country house

Upon the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the site was granted by Henry VIII to Richard Whalley, of Screveton. After ownership by a London clothworker, the abbey came into the hands of the Cavendishes who, in the 17th century converted it into a country residence, though only a few basements and inner walls were retained from the Abbey.

The 5th Duke undertook what are considered the most substantial building works at Welbeck.

The kitchen gardens covered 22 acres and were surrounded by high walls with recesses behind them in which braziers could be placed to hasten the ripening of fuit. One of the walls, a peach wall, measured over 1000 feet in length.

An immense new riding house was built which was 396' long, 108' wide and 50' high and which enclosed a tan gallop of 422 yards. It was lit by 4,000 gas jets.

There was a tunnel over 1000 yards in length leading from the house to the riding school, wide enough for several to walk side by side. Parallel to this tunnel was another, more roughly constructed, which was used by workmen. A longer and more elaborate tunnel (1 and a half miles) leading to Worksop was intended as a carriage drive, and was broad enough for two carriage ways.

He also excavated underground chambers. One was a great hall, 160 feet long and 63 feet wide originally intended as a chapel, then used as a picture gallery and occasionally as a ballroom. All the rooms were painted pink.

The Duke also made many alterations to the house above ground. A vast amount of plumbing was done with elaborate new bathrooms made and a great many new pipes laid.

New lodges were built at different entrances to the Park.

This work cost prodigious sums and involved the employment of thousands of men - masons, bricklayers, joiners, plumbers, navvies etc.. While there were disputes from time to time (wages, hours, etc) the Duke personally got on very well with his employees and earned the nickname 'the workman's friend'. He created employment in the district both for the skilled and the unskilled.

By 1879 Welbeck was in a state of disrepair. The only rooms habitable were the four or five rooms used by the 5th Duke in the west wing. All the rooms were painted pink, with parquet floors, all bare and without furniture, except that almost every room had a 'convenience' in the corner.

[edit] Welbeck today

The descendents of the family still live on the estate in a house called Worksop Woodhouse and within the abbey itself.

Until 2005 it was occupied by Welbeck College as a military training base.

[edit] List of owners and occupiers

• ca 1086 Hugh FitzBaldric
• 1140 - 1538 Premonstratensian canons in the Abbey of St. James
• 1538 - 1558 Richard Whalley of Screveton
• 1558 - 1595 Edward Osborne of London, citizen and clothworker
• 1595 - ???? Robert Booth and Ranulph Catterall
•  ???? - 1607 Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury and Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury
• 1607 - 1617 Sir Charles Cavendish
• 1617 - 1676 William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• 1676 - 1691 Henry Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
• 1691 - 1711?? John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Lady Margaret Cavendish
• 1711?? - ???? 2nd Earl of Oxford and Mortimer and Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles
•  ???? - 1762 William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and Margaret Bentinck, Duchess of Portland
• 1762 - 1809 William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
• 1809 - 1854 William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland
• 1854 - 1879 William Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 5th Duke of Portland
• 1879 - 1943 William John Arthur Charles James Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland
• 1943 - 1977 William Arthur Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 7th Duke of Portland
• 1977 - Present Lady Alexandra Margaret Anne Cavendish-Bentinck
• 1943 - 2005 Ministry of Defence (leasing the majority of the abbey from the duke)
• 1992 - Present William Henry Marcello Parente (grandson of the 7th Duke, occupying part of the abbey with his family)

[edit] Links

• Follies
• Jacks, The Great Houses of Nottinghamshire