Abbeystead is a small hamlet located in the

Forest of Bowland The Forest of Bowland, also known as the Bowland Fells and formerly the Chase of Bowland, is an area of gritstone fells, deep valleys and peat moorland, mostly in north-east Lancashire, England, with a small part in North Yorkshire (however ro ...

Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty An Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB; , AHNE) is one of 46 areas of countryside in England, Wales, or Northern Ireland that has been designated for conservation due to its significant landscape value. Since 2023, the areas in England an ...

, in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England. Abbeystead lies close to the Trough of Bowland but even in medieval times, was considered part of Wyresdale rather than within the domain of that powerful local magnate, the Lord of Bowland, so-called Lord of the Fells.Forest of Bowland official website
/ref> Abbeystead is located in the civil and ecclesiastical parish of

Over Wyresdale Over Wyresdale is a civil parish and a parish of the Church of England in the City of Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cu ...

History

Little is known of the history of Abbeystead before the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

, except that it was occupied from at least the middle of the prehistoric period.

Name

The name is derived from "the site of the abbey" and relates to the short-lived presence of a

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

of Cistercian monks from Furness Abbey between c.1192 and 1204. One tradition sites the monks' house just below the junction of the Marshaw Wyre and the Tarnbrook Wyre, on the north side of the

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

. Another places it around the site of the primary school.

Structures

Notable buildings in the Abbeystead area include: Cawthorne's Endowed School, founded 1674, rebuilt on its original site in 1877; Home Farm opposite, dated at 1891; Abbeystead House, built in 1886 for the 4th Earl of Sefton, Stoops Bridge Cottage, built in 1674 to house the schoolmaster, rebuilt in 1841, and the attached schoolroom, which now houses the Abbeystead Estate Office, which housed the school from 1841 to 1877. Records trace the chapel to the west of Abbeystead back to the 14th century. The church was rebuilt in 1733, with a

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

buttresses A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act a ...

to the tower, new windows, a

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...

and new

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

added during restoration in 1894, at which time benches replaced pews and the west end musicians' gallery was removed. The Abbeystead

Reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

was built in 1855 by Lancaster Corporation to supply mills lower down the

River Wyre The River Wyre, in Lancashire, England, flows into the Irish Sea at Fleetwood. It is 28 miles (45 km) long and has a sheltered estuary which penetrates deep into the Fylde peninsula. Etymology The name ''Wyre'' is of pre-Roman, likely, ...

in the dry season. Although the reservoir is no longer in service it still features a curved overflow

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

visible from the footpath. The reservoir marks the eastern terminus of the Wyre Way.

Abbeystead disaster

On 23 May 1984, 44 people were attending a presentation at a newly built valve house at the outfall end of the Lune/Wyre Transfer Scheme in Abbeystead when an explosion occurred in the building. A total of 16 people were killed and 22 injured, some severely. The event had been organised to demonstrate how winter flooding in the lower Wyre Valley could be managed. An official inquiry into the disaster concluded that

methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The abundance of methane on Earth makes ...

from coal deposits had built up in an empty pipe. It was released by the sudden pressure of water from the pumps as they were switched on. The cause of ignition has never been determined.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Lancashire Geography of the City of Lancaster Forest of Bowland