Tavistock Abbey

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Remains of the cloister arches of Tavistock Abbey

Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine Abbey in Tavistock, Devon. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch.

The Abbey was founded in 961 by Orgar Earl of Devon and completed by his son Ordulf in 981, in which year the charter of confirmation was granted by King Ethelred II. It was endowed with lands in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall, and became one of the richest abbeys in the west of England. The church, dedicated to Our Lady and St. Rumon, was destroyed by Danish raiders in 997 and rebuilt under Lyfing, the second abbot. The church was further rebuilt in 1285 and the greater part of the abbey between 1457-1458. Livingus and his successor Aldred both became bishops of Worcester, and the latter is said to have crowned William the Conqueror. The thirty-sixth abbot, John Dynynton, was granted leave in 1458 to use the mitre and other pontificalia; and the thirty-ninth, Richard Banham, was made a lord of Parliament by Henry VIII in 1513. Twenty-five years later the last abbot, John Peryn, with twenty monks, surrendered the abbey to the king, receiving a pension of a hundred pounds. The abbey revenues at the time of the dissolution were estimated at £902.

[edit] References

"Tavistock Abbey". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition article "Tavistock", a publication now in the public domain.

This article incorporates text from the entry Tavistock Abbey in the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

The Richard Banham (1492 - 1523), the 39th Abbot was more likely to have been Richard Baynham who was granted arms as follows: A Grant of Arms was made to Richard Baynham , Bishop of Tavistock (College of Arms Ms: 2G4/5b) in the time of Henry the Eight (1509 - 1547). The arms are: Gules a mace in bend sinister surmounted by a pastoral staff in bend dexter or on a chief argent three pierced mullets of five points sable.

Richard Baynham has been referred to as Richard Banham in a number of places. He was created Baron Hurdwick in 1514 (another name for the Hundred of Tavistock)^[1] Richard was a mitred Abbot which meant that he could sit in Parliament as a Lord and probably had the title Abbot-Sovereign. See also - HISTORIC COLLECTIONS, RELATING TO THE MONASTERIES IN DEVON. THE REVEREND GEORGE OLIVER, OF EXETER. EXETER: PRINTED BY R. CULLUM, 1820.