Bardney Abbey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bardney Abbey in Lincolnshire was a Benedictine monastery founded in 697 by King Æthelred of Mercia, who was to become the first abbot. The monastery is supposed to have been destroyed during a Danish raid in 870.^{[citation needed]} In 1087 it was refounded as a priory, by Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln, and it regained status as an abbey in 1115.^{[citation needed]}

In 1537, six of the monks were executed for their role in the Lincolnshire Rising, and in the following year the property was granted to Sir Robert Tirwhit. He retained the abbot's lodging as a house, and the cloister became a garden, though both later became ruinous along with the remainder of the monastery.

Excavations in 1909-14 revealed the layout. This can still be seen, though nothing remains to any height. Some grave slabs and carved stone are preserved in Bardney parish church.

[edit] References

• Anthony New. 'A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales', p44-45. Constable.