Alnwick Abbey was founded as a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular in the Catholic Chur ...

monastery in 1147 by Eustace fitz John near

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border, inland from the North Sea ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, as a daughter house of Newhouse Abbey in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

. It was dissolved in 1535, refounded in 1536 and finally suppressed in 1539. The Alnwick Abbey site is located just within Hulne Park, on the bank of the

River Aln The River Aln () runs through the county of Northumberland in England. It rises in Alnham in the Cheviot Hills and discharges into the North Sea at Alnmouth on the east coast of England. The river gives its name to the town of Alnwick and the ...

. The only visible remnant is the impressive 14th-century gatehouse, a Grade I listed building.

Founding

Eustace fitz John became lord of the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

of Alnwick by his marriage with Beatrix, the daughter of

Ivo de Vesci Ivo de Vesci, sometimes spelt Vescy and first name sometimes Yves, was a prominent 11th-century English noble. He obtained lands and the lordship of Alnwick in Northumberland from King William II of England. He was also given lands in Malton, ...

. He endowed it amply. The charter of foundation, included in a confirmatory charter of Henry Percy,

Earl of Northumberland The title of Earl of Northumberland has been created several times in the Peerage of England and of Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders are the House of Percy (''alias'' Perci), who were the most po ...

, is addressed to William of St. Barbara,

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

. Among the souls for whose benefit it was erected, is mentioned that of Ivo de Vesci. From Dugdale's authority, it is said that the first of that order came to settle at Alnwick in the year 1147. The order first came over in 1143, and settled at Newhouse, in

, in their monastery built by Peter of Goxhill, dedicated to St. Mary and St. Martial.Geudens, Francis Martin. "Abbey of Newhouse." The Catholic Encyclopedia
Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 22 January 2019 Although following a rule based on the "Rule of St. Augustine", the Premonstratensian order incorporated Cistercian values of austerity and seclusion and founded all its monasteries in rural locations. Dependencies included the hospital at Alnwick, and Guyzance Priory, which was annexed to Alnwick by Eustace fitz John.

Fourteenth-century banquet

In the chronicle of this house, preserved in the library of

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

, there is an account of a banquet given by Walter de Hepescotes, the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

, A. D. 1376, on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to Henry the 4th Lord of Alnwick, with the thirteen following

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

s, William de Acon, Richard Tempest, Walter Blount, Allan de Heton, John Conyers, John Heron, John Littleburum, Thomas de Ilderton, Thomas de Boynton, Ingram de Umfravil, John de Dichaunt, John de Swynton, Radulphus de Viners, and many others of the chief gentry of the country, amounting to 120, all entertained in the

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

; in addition to eighty-six at a second repast. The

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

s too were filled with

commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

s of all ages, to the number of 1,020, who were likewise there feasted.

Burials

It appears from the same authority, that a number of the Percys were interred here; particularly Henry, the second Lord of Alnwick, who died c. 1351: Henry the third Lord, who bestowed on the monks £100l at his death, A. D. 1368; also Mary his wife, daughter of

Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster Henry, 3rd Earl of Leicester and Lancaster ( – 22 September 1345) was a grandson of King Henry III of England (1216–1272) and was one of the principals behind the deposition of King Edward II (1307–1327), his first cousin. Origins He wa ...

. Henry, the fourth Lord of Alnwick, A. D. 1372, was admitted in the month of February to the Brotherhood of this chapter, together with many other knights and esquires; as also, in the succeeding year,

Henry Henry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Henry (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters * Henry (surname) * Henry, a stage name of François-Louis Henry (1786–1855), French baritone Arts and entertainmen ...

his eldest son, with his two brothers, Sir Thomas and Sir Ralph.

Other burials

* John de Vesci * Eustace de Vesci * William de Vesci and his wife Burga de Stuteville (daughter of Robert III de Stuteville) *

Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal (10 November 134120 February 1408) was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy, and a descendant of Henry III of England. His mother was M ...

* Mary of Lancaster

Famine and pestilence

During the abbacy of Walter de Hepescotes, this house was afflicted with a great scarcity, together with a pestilence, whereby all the cattle belonging to the monastery were destroyed.

Representation in parliament

The abbot of this house was summoned to the parliaments of the 23rd, 24th, 28th, 32nd, and 34th years of King

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 125 ...

; also to that held at

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

, 35th of the same reign; and to the parliament of the 19th King Edward II.

Dissolution and subsequent possession

At the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, the revenues of this house were valued at £1,89l. 15s. by Dugdale, and £1,94l. 7s. by Speed, there being then thirteen canons. King

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

in the fourth year of his reign, granted the site to Ralph Sadler and Laurence Winnington. It came afterwards to the possession of the

Brandling of Newcastle The Brandlings of Newcastle were a wealthy family of merchants and land and coal owners in Newcastle upon Tyne and Northumberland. Tudor and Stuart periods Sir John Brandling, who was knighted at Blackheath, London, Blackheath in 1497 and marrie ...

family and the Doubledays. Francis Brandling welcomed King James at Alnwick Abbey on 7 May 1617 for two nights. The king had come from Bothal Castle and was on his way to Scotland.

Gatehouse and tower

There are no remains of the Abbey except for the

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

and

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

, which by the architecture and

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

sculptured upon the building, show it is of much more modern date than the foundation of the house. This tower is not square, but oblong, having an exploratory

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

on each corner. The north side is ornamented with a niche, canopied, capable of receiving a statue five feet high: most probably it contained the effigies of the dedicatory Virgin. Beneath is a figure of an

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

relief Relief is a sculpture, sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''wikt:relief, relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give ...

, with expanded wings. Over this entrance are shields of arms, a cross, supposed to be the arms of the Vesci family, and a Cross moline. On the south side, in a niche, is the figure of one of the Religious, of the order of White Friars of Premonstratenses, in his proper habilament, in fairly good preservation. This front is ornamented with shields of arms, the arms of Brabant adopted by the Percys, with the arms of

Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...

s quarterly, the principal; and also the arms of Vesci. A gate opens to the east, on each side of which are the figures of

cherub A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

s supporting armorial shields: on this front is also a canopy and niche for a statue. Here are the arms of Brabant and the arms of the Lucys on separate shields. At this entrance, as also on the north side, were machicolations; and in the centre of the arching of the gateway is a square aperture, from which the possessors could annoy assailants. The

masonry Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...

of this tower is excellent; the gates of lattice braced with iron still remain. Above the gate going into the court of the house is an escutcheon of white

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

, much injured by the weather, but retaining some marks of the sculptor, to distinguish that it once contained the crest of the Doubledays, an arm in armour suspending a mullet. The antiquity of this piece has been much doubted, but the materials determine that point clearly. The gatehouse is Grade I listed as a

Scheduled Ancient Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

Abbots

Appearance in film

The Gatehouse is featured in the opening scenes of the 1998 film ''Elizabeth''.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{coord, 55.41985, N, 1.71914, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Alnwick Monasteries in Northumberland Premonstratensian monasteries in England 1147 establishments in England 1539 disestablishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 1140s