Lilleshall Abbey

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Lilleshall Abbey

Shropshire


Lilleshall Abbey
Location
Location: 52°43’29"N, 2°23’23"W
Order: Augustinian
History
Built c 1145
Information
Condition: Ruins
Owned by: English Heritage
Website: Lilleshall Abbey

Lilleshall Abbey was an Augustinian abbey in Shropshire, today located 6 miles north of Telford. It was founded between 1145 and 1148.

Lilleshall was one of a small number of monasteries in England belonging to the rigorist Arrouaisian branch of the Augustinians, which and followed the austere customs and observance of the Abbey of Arrouaise in northern France.

The abbey suffered from chronic financial difficulties and narrowly escaped the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries in 1536, before finally being dissolved in 1538.

History

Foundation

Lilleshall claimed to stand on the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery dedicated to St Alkmund, and that the saint was buried here, though modern scholarship doubts this. It is known that the collegiate church of St Alkmund in Shrewsbury was dissolved to provide the funding for the abbey.

Early accounts from the time set the origins of the monastery securely in the years 1145–8, during the reign of King Stephen, and agree that Lilleshall was founded on the initiative of two brothers: Richard de Belmeis, at that time Archdeacon of Middlesex and dean of the college of St Alkmund in Shrewsbury, and Philip de Belmeis, lord of Tong, Shropshire. Both were nephews of Richard de Beaumis, a Bishop of London who had died in 1127, and Richard was later to follow his likenamed uncle as Bishop of London.

The Belmeis brothers had acquired land and influence in Shropshire and the surrounding counties mainly as heirs to their uncle, the bishop of London, who had received personal rewards for overseing the affairs of Wales and the Welsh marches on behalf of King Henry I, to which endowmenst Philip was the heir and the king transferred many of his ecclesiastical holdings to Richard.[1] In the early 1140s, Philip Belmeis gave land at Lizard, Staffordshire, “to found a Church in honour of St. Mary for Canons of the Order of Arrouase, who had come from the Church of St. Peter at Dorchester, and are serving God and St Mary there.”[2] The small colony of canons from Dorchester struggled to establish themselves. Lizard proved unsuitable, so they moved first into Donnington Wood, near Wrockwardine, and then to their final home at Lilleshall by 1148.

Richard Belmeis devised a radical scheme to dissolve the ancient college of secular canons in Shrewsbury and divert the wealth of its deanery and prebends to the new Arrouaisian community of regular canons,[3] and obtained from King Stephen a charter in 1145 confirmed Richard's donation of his holdings to the canons at Donington Wood. He obtained a charter too from the Empress Matilda, who was contesting the throne with Stephen, and it was confirmed by the ultimate victor, Matilda’s son King Henry II. The abbey was seen as a royal foundation, notwithstanding the role of the Belmeis brothers, because it replaced St Alkmund's, a chapel royal.

Decline

The abbey was large and important among Augustinian houses and seems to have reached a zenith under King Henry III. However, it was also from this time that it sometimes overstepped or abused its privileges. In 1221, for example, a jury at Shrewsbury complained that a servant of the abbot, Anian from Preston Gubbals, had been caught red-handed with loot from a robbery but had been extracted from gaol so that the abbot could try him in his own court. The jurors had no idea of the outcome of the case. However, relations with royal authority were generally good. In 1242 the king sent the abbot, then Richard of Shrewsbury, a gratuity of 20 marks.[4] Three years later Henry stayed at the abbey on his way to Chester and the abbot gave 40 shillings towards the marriage of the infant Princess Margaret.

In 1292 Edward I called Abbot William of Bridgnorth to account for exceeding his privileges in numerous instances. It was alleged he held courts that dealt with Pleas of the Crown, serious matters reserved to royal courts. Moreover, he was holding fairs, markets and claiming free warren across his estates, although he had only limited rights to do so.[5] Some of this the abbot sought to justify by reference to extant charters, some he denied, and some he sought to evade by claiming that the villages stipulated in the charges did not exist – apparently an attempt to exploit the loose spelling of the period. The outcome of the case is unknown.

Although it was well-endowed, the abbey had fallen into serious financial difficulties by the early 14th century.[6] This coincided with the episcopate of Roger Northburgh, a very effective administrator and a zealous reformer, who sought out abuses all over the Diocese of Lichfield, and the incumbency of Abbot John of Chetwynd, a particularly turbulent cleric. Unlike the nearby White Ladies Priory, a community of Augustinian canonesses, where Northburgh made a litany of complaints about conduct and discipline,[7] Lilleshall was criticised almost entirely for financial ineptitude and administrative weakness. Northburgh found the abbey heavily in debt and criticised the abbot for failing to consult widely enough about expenditure. He highlighted the large number of corrodies, waste of timber on abbey lands, the inefficiency of the brewer, negligence in distributing alms at the gate and the age and infirmity of the abbot.

The tenor of the bishop's complaints is surprising, as Chetwynd was often guilty of much worse than financial ineptitude. It seems that he maintained an armed retinue and he was not afraid to use it. In 1316, Vivian de Staundon robbed a royal official who was carrying a large sum of money to Ireland on behalf of Edward II[8] Chetwynd, together with John Ipstones, a local baron, raised a large force of armed men to prevent Staundon's arrest and then sheltered him from justice, absorbing him into their own retinues. Warrants were issued for the arrest of both of them but, although Ipstones was apprehended, Chetwynd escaped and went to ground, evading several attempts to bring him to court, and the matter seems to have lapsed. In 1321 he again evaded justice by the simple expedient of not answering the summons, when the king prosecuted him for falsely claiming immunity from tolls and harbour dues in London.[9] Despite his criminal history, when he retired in 1330, Chetwynd was allowed the revenues of two manors, Blackfordby and Freasley, and of two churches, as well as his food, fuel, candles, two horses, a capacious lodging at the abbey and hospitality for his guests.[6] Even this was not enough for him: the disgruntled ex-abbot seized the abbey by force and pillaged it. The matter was only resolved when Edward III sent in keepers to restore order. This marked a low point in the reputation of the abbey.

The abbey's estates were large but very widely distributed. This made them expensive to work and manage, with stewards to pay at each grange. There were also underlying problems implicit in the abbey's status as a royal foundation. The problem of corrodies was intractable. These gifts of food and clothing were not alms but essentially pensions that could be purchased and they were regarded as perquisites for royal employees. Any servant of the king who asked would be given or sold a corrody, entitling them to basic maintenance for life, and many abbey servants were also given corrodies, which continued even after they finished working for the abbey. Abbots gave too many away and sold others too cheaply as favours. There was also a king's clerk to maintain unless a benefice could be found. Retired abbots expected an income and good quality accommodation.

John's successor, whom he apparently despised, was Henry of Stoke. He took steps to improve the abbey's finances, in which he was successful, but cattle disease in the 1330s and the first outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 struck hard. Abbot Henry resigned in 1350 and in 1351 King Edward III appointed custodians to restore solvency.

Richard II and Queen Isabella visited the abbey from 24 to 26 January 1398, on his way to the parliament at Shrewsbury. They were accompanied by five dukes, four earls, three bishops, and a French chamberlain. The cost to the abbey would have been huge, as these potentates would have been followed by an enormous retinue. John of Gaunt's indisposition a few days later brought unexpected relief, as he made a large monetary gift during his stay, as well as putting his influence at the abbey's disposal.

Finances probably recovered in the later 14th century and in the following century the abbey was fairly solvent. Revenues from particular estates were earmarked for specific purposes, generating a straightforward budget. The treasurer then had only limited discretion in spending the remainder. This system kept the abbey out of serious trouble for some decades. However, problems had set in again by 1518, when a canonical visitation by Bishop Geoffrey Blythe found debts of 1000 marks, with only 600 marks expected revenue. Blythe also criticised the attitude of the prior, the abbot's deputy, found that some canons were consorting with women of ill-repute and that there was no schoolmaster. He advised Abbot Robert Watson to weed out unnecessary staff. This he did and the abbey began to recover financially in its final years.

Dissolution and after

Lilleshall was audited under the Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1535, preparatory to the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries Act of the following year. The gross income was found to be £324 0s. 10d., according to the Victoria County History: two pounds more according to Eyton.[9] The high running costs brought this down to a net income of only £232 16s. 6d. – just above the £200 threshold set by the act. There were many expenses,[10] including 40s. to the poor on Maundy Thursday and £4 on the Nativity of Mary (8 September) – both original bequests of Philip de Belmeis. However, lay officials, some very wealthy, drew large salaries: George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury was paid £2 13s. 4d. to act as steward, Thomas Bromley £2 as auditor and Nicholas Cockerell a very substantial £6 13s. 4d. As receiver general. Officers at nearby Wombridge Priory, another Augustinian house, were fewer much less richly rewarded.[11]

Lilleshall was not immediately dissolved but, like most of the marginal houses, surrendered itself to the king, before being compulsorily suppressed, on 16 October 1538.[10] Henry VIII's agent, William Cavendish arrived on 16 October[12] to take possession of the demesne lands and the abbey buildings. The abbey community was down to Abbot Robert Watson and ten canons. The gross revenue was found to be about £340 – a little more than in 1538, when the Lilleshall estate itself had been omitted. Watson was given a pension of £50 and the London house[6] or, according to Walcott's transcription of the Court of Augmentations record, the “mansion of Longdon, wyth on acre of grounde ajoynyng to the seid mansion, and competente tymber for the reparacion of the samehouse, and also sufficient fyer woode duryng hys lyfe.”[12] The canons were granted pensions of £5 to £6 each and a small lump sum as a “reward” on leaving – generally 50 shillings.[13] The contents of the abbey and monastic buildings were sold and systematically listed as they were taken away, from liturgical items like altars and plate, to beds and bedding, pots and pans.[14] The livestock, the small store of grain the hay were sold. Altogether, the sale of contents fetched £74 18s.,[13] although the bells, substantial amounts of plate and lead roofing remained initially unsold.[12]

On 28 November the king granted the abbey site to Cavendish in fee farm.[10] A year later, the site was sold to James Leveson, a rich Merchant of the Staple from Wolverhampton in Staffordshire. In 1543 Leveson bought the entire manor of Lilleshall from the Crown, creating a country estate for his family. He probably built or started the building of a lodge close to the abbey site as a family home. Leveson died in 1547, leaving the manor and the abbey to his son, Richard.

In the time of Richard's son, Walter Leveson (1551–1602), the family and its estates got into serious difficulties. Walter became involved in piracy against allied shipping in the North Sea. He suffered a series of huge fines and several spells in the Fleet Prison. By the time of his death, he was massively in debt. Richard Leveson, a noted admiral, was well aware of the desperate situation even before he inherited it but had no time to improve matters, as he died without issue less than two years later, leaving still further massive debts, as he was accused of stealing the contents of a captured carrack. It was left to a cousin, John Leveson of Halling, Kent, to resolve the issue as trustee of the estate, but he died in 1610 and his wife Christian took up the struggle. She improved the lodge, and when the Crown seized Lilleshall in 1616, she raised the money to lease it back. In 1623 she finally paid off all the debts. The abbey and manor passed later that year to another Richard, Sir Richard Leveson, John and Christian's son. A notable Cavalier in the Civil War, in 1643 he fortified the site and installed a garrison of 160 men. Parliamentary forces besieged and bombarded the abbey. Before the garrison surrendered, the towers, lady chapel, and north transept were destroyed. After Sir Richard's death in 1661, the manor passed to his widow, Katherine, for life and then to his great nephew, William Leveson-Gower. Thereafter it became a seat of the Leveson-Gower family.

The Leveson's had never lived full-time at Lilleshall, as they had numerous properties elsewhere. It was considered a hunting lodge or country retreat. Sir Richard was the only family head to be buried in Lilleshall village. In the 1750s a new Hall was built elsewhere on the estate. In 1820 this was replaced with a much more impressive Hall at the extreme east of the estate, near Sheriffhales, moving the centre of attention well away from the abbey site. Subsidence caused by large-scale mining damaged the walls of the building and much of the domestic ranges disappeared during the 19th century, although there were attempts to record the site early in the century and some archaeology in 1891.

The abbey site is now in the hands of English Heritage and opened to the public.

Legacy

The abbey was not noted for its intellectual life. However, there was some kind of library and a copy of a chronicle ascribed to Peter of Ickham has survived from it, with additions made locally.[6] There is also evidence of a canon being licensed to study at university for 10 years from 1400.

John Mirk, a Lilleshall canon of the late 14th and early 15th centuries[15] did make a literary mark. He wrote in the local West Midland dialect of Middle English[16] and at least two of his works were widely copied and used. Festial is a collection of homilies for the festivals of the Liturgical year as it was celebrated in his time in Shropshire. Instructions for Parish Priests is in lively vernacular verse, using octosyllabic lines and rhyming couplets throughout.[16] Mirk intended to ensure that priests had the resources to give good counsel to their flock. The existence of such works suggests that the canons were actively engaged with the liturgical and pastoral work of their region,[15] if not at the highest scholarly level.

The abbey remains

The church was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. Its size and magnificence indicates it had wealthy benefactors; Henry III visited twice circa 1240. The surviving abbey buildings almost all date from the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Other buildings have been lost, but their foundations were partially recovered by excavations in the late 19th century. The central buildings stood in a much larger monastic precinct, enclosed by a stone wall and gates.[17] Ancient yew trees are now an important feature of the site, particularly on the cloister side to the south. Care of the abbey remains was taken over by the Ministry of Public Building and Works in 1950 and is now in the guardianship of English Heritage.

The remains of the abbey church are still imposing, as the main walls still stand. Today they benefit from earlier maintenance and restoration: during the 1960s they had to be held up with timber because of mining subsidence.[6] The church was cruciform and some 200 feet in length, with a stone vaulted roof. The north transept has almost disappeared.

Visitors are confronted by the still-impressive west front, with a wide central doorway, surmounted by a round arch. This western end was finished comparatively late, in the 13th century, and the round arch of the doorway is meant to complement the earlier work visible through the portal. The massive stonework on either side originally carried the weight of a great western tower, probably destroyed in the siege, along with the west window. The northern base has suffered least and still has arcading at the level of the vanished window sill, decorated in a trefoil pattern. The pointed gothic arches of its windows contrast sharply with the late romanesque gateway. Moving through the gateway, it is possible to climb a narrow staircase on the north wall of the nave to the level of the arcade, thus obtaining a good view of the remains of the church and of the landscape beyond. There is a small, well-preserved lavabo on the southern wall of the nave.

Two screens divided the length of the church: a rood screen and a pulpitum. Only the footings of both survive, although they are very clear. There are also foundations of two nave altars against the pulpitum. Beyond the screens, the chancel and presbytery are the oldest parts of the building, begun in the later 12th century. The only major subsequent alteration was the insertion of a large and impressive east window in the 14th century. This still dominates the church, as it was intended to do.

On the south wall, next to the transept, is a still-impressive processional entrance. The door pillars are surmounted by a segmental arch, and above that a round arch of three orders, the area between forming a tympanum. The entire exterior of the doorway is carved in a detailed zig-zag pattern, which was probably used widely around the building. Beyond this lay the cloister, from which the canons would enter the church in procession.

The cloister was a garden courtyard, surrounded by the domestic buildings of the abbey, mostly constructed in the late 12th century. The eastern buildings, adjoining the transept, are well-preserved, and it is possible to walk through the slype that gave access to the parlour, chapter house and possibly the infirmary. The south range is ruinous but the walls mainly survive. It contained the refectory, which was divided in the 14th century to provide a warming room. The range was much more complete in the early 19th century, when it still had most of its upper floor. This probably contained the abbot's lodging. There were many buildings further west and south, and the abbey's guest facilities must have been very large to accommodate visitors of very high status, with their enormous retinues.

  • Remains of the abbey buildings
  • Western end of remains of the church, showing the main west portal and the still-massive northern support for the tower.
    Western end of remains of the church, showing the main west portal and the still-massive northern support for the tower.
  • The main west portal of the abbey church.
    The main west portal of the abbey church.
  • Arch and tympanum over the processional entrance on south side of the church.
    Arch and tympanum over the processional entrance on south side of the church.
  • View of the remains of the abbey church interior from gallery level.
    View of the remains of the abbey church interior from gallery level.
  • North east of the abbey church, showing interior of the chancel.
    North east of the abbey church, showing interior of the chancel.
  • Domestic buildings, called west range on site, but actually the western end of the south range. It probably included the abbot's lodging on its first floor.
    Domestic buildings, called west range on site, but actually the western end of the south range. It probably included the abbot's lodging on its first floor.

Outside links

 ("Wikimedia Commons" has material
about Lilleshall Abbey)

References

  1. ↑ Eyton (1856), p.231
  2. ↑ Eyton (1856), p.230
  3. ↑ Owen and Blakeway, p.265
  4. ↑ Eyton, Antiquities, Volume 8, p.221
  5. ↑ Eyton, Antiquities, Volume 8, p.222
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 A History of the County of Shropshire - Volume : {{{2}}} (Victoria County History)
  7. ↑ [1] – A History of the County of Shropshire - Volume : {{{2}}} (Victoria County History) - Chapter 13: the Priory of St Leonard, Brewood
  8. ↑ Plea Rolls for Staffordshire: 9 Edward II - Staffordshire Historical Collections, vol. 10, part 1
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Eyton, Antiquities, Volume 8, p.223
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Eyton, Antiquities, Volume 8, p.224
  11. ↑ Eyton, Antiquities, Volume 7, p.270
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Walcott, p.210
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Walcott, p.209
  14. ↑ Walcott, p.207-8
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Coulton, p.5
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Coulton, p.6
  17. ↑ Lilleshall Abbey: History and research
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