Thornton Abbey, Thornton Curtis, North Lincolnshire

Photograph taken July 1999 © Copyright Historic England Archive ref: nmr 17310/27

Aerial view of the remains of Thornton Abbey, Humberside. A priory for Augustinian canons was established here in 1139 and it became an abbey in 1148. It was largely rebuilt during the 13th and 14th centuries. It was dissolved in December 1539. The abbot had been involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace - it is not clear what happened to him. The abbey was finally closed in 1547. The gatehouse remains but other buildings were demolished when a hall and farmhouse were built. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2010).

Location

North Lincolnshire Thornton Curtis

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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Thornton Abbey, Thornton Curtis, North Lincolnshire

Location

Period

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