Lord Crewe Arms, Blanchland, Northumberland
This 18th century hotel includes parts of Blanchland Abbey. It was probably the abbot's lodge, guest house and kitchen. It was a Premonstratensian monastery, founded in 1165 by Walter de Bolbec II. The farms of the abbey were pillaged during the Anglo-Scots wars, especially in 1327. These remaining parts date from the 13th to 15th centuries. After the Dissolution the range became the house of the Forster family. Thomas Forster, awaiting trial at Newgate for his part in the 1715 rebellion, escaped with the aid of his sister Dorothy. He is reputed to have hidden for a time in the "priest's hole" before going into exile in France.
