Cockersand Abbey is a former

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

near

Cockerham Cockerham is a small village and civil parish within the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is south of Lancaster and north-northwest of Preston. Lying on the River Cocker, at the estuary of the River Lune, the parish h ...

in the

City of Lancaster The City of Lancaster, or simply ''Lancaster'' (), is a non-metropolitan district, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in Lancashire, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Lancaster, Lanca ...

district of

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. It is situated near the mouth of the River Cocker.

History

It was founded before 1184 as the Hospital of St Mary on the marsh belonging to

Leicester Abbey The Abbey of Saint Mary de Pratis, more commonly known as Leicester Abbey, was an Augustinian religious house in the city of Leicester, in the East Midlands of England. The abbey was founded in the 12th century by the Robert de Beaumont, 2nd E ...

. It was refounded by the

Cambro-Norman Cambro-Normans (; "Wales", ; ) were Normans who settled in southern Wales and the Welsh Marches after the Norman invasion of Wales. Cambro-Norman knights were also the leading force in the Cambro-Norman invasion of Ireland, led by Richard de ...

magnate,

Theobald Walter, 1st Baron Butler Theobald Walter (sometimes Theobald FitzWalter, Theobald Butler, or Theobald Walter le Boteler) was the first Chief Butler of Ireland. He also held the office of Chief Butler of England and was the High Sheriff of Lancashire for 1194. Theoba ...

, 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 ...

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

in 1190. It was subsequently elevated to an abbey in 1192. It also continued as a hospital. Farrer & Brownbill (1908), pp. 154-9 The Abbey was originally located in marsh land which was later drained, becoming known as St. Mary's of the Marsh. The abbey was the third richest in Lancashire when it was dissolved in 1539 and acquired by a John Kechyn in 1544. The site is now adjacent to a farm house and the only significant relic is the still intact, vaulted Cockersand Abbey chapter house, which was built in 1230 and used as a family

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

by the Daltons of Thurnham Hall during the 18th and 19th centuries. The land was acquired by the Daltons shortly after 1556, when Sir Robert Dalton married Ann Kitchen There are some scrappy remains of the church adjacent. A tradition that the medieval choir stalls in the nearby

Lancaster Priory Lancaster Priory, formally the Priory Church of St Mary, is the Church of England parish church of the city of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. It is located near Lancaster Castle and since 1953 has been designated a Grade I listed building ...

originated from here has been discredited. The chapter house is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

and

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 ...

. In 2007

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

made an £80,000 grant to the owner to help preserve the building. The chapter house is open to the public on special occasions such as Heritage Open Days.

Roman statuettes

Two

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

statuettes were discovered on Cockersand Moss near the abbey site in 1718, possibly indicating the presence of a Romano-British shrine nearby. One statuette of Mars, which was part of Lord Arundel's collection that

William Stukeley William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, physician and Anglican clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of archaeology, he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric ...

exhibited in 1719 to the Society of Antiquaries was an inscription which has been recorded as . The second, smaller and inferior quality, statuette was reported as containing the inscription .https://romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/617 Roman Inscriptions of Britain RIB 617. Dedication to Mars Nodons

List of dignitaries

*Hugh (Garth) the Hermit ‘Master of the Hospital’ (before 1184) *Henry (?–1190) *Thomas 'Abbas de Marisco' (1194–1199) *Roger 'Abbas de Marisco', 'abbas de Kokersand' (1205–6) *Hereward (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1216–1235) *Richard de Freckleton (fl. 1240) *Henry (fl. 1246–1261) *Adam de Blake (fl. 1269–1278) *Thomas (fl. 1286–1288) *Robert of Formby (fl. 1289–1290) *Roger (fl. 1300) *Thomas (fl. 1305–1307) *Roger (fl. 1311–1331) *William of Boston (fl. 1334–1340) *Robert of Carleton (fl. 1347–1354) *Jordan of Bosedon (fl. 1354–1364) *Richard (fl. 1382) *Thomas (fl. 1386–1389) *William Stamford (fl. 1393) *Thomas of Burgh (fl. 1395–1403) *Thomas Green (1410–1444?) *Robert Egremont (1444–c. 1474) *William Lucas (–1477) *William Bowland (1477–1490) *John Preston (1490–1502?) *James Skipton (1502–1505) *Henry Stayning (1505–1509) *John Croune (1509–?) *George Billington (fl. 1520–1522) *John Bowland (fl. 1524–1527) *surnamed Newsham (?) *Gilbert Ainsworth (1531) *Robert Kendal (1531–1533) *Robert Poulton (1533–1538/9)

Civil parish

The

of Cockersand Abbey was created as a local government unit in 1858, and was part of Lancaster Rural District. It was abolished and incorporated into Thurnham civil parish in 1935. The population was recorded as 26 in 1871, 53 in 1901, and 25 in 1931 The parish included the area around the abbey and extended north and south along the coast.

Media gallery

Image:Cockersand Abbey.JPG,

Engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

of the chapter house at Cockersand Abbey Image:Coastal Path at Cockersand Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1188065.jpg, The

Lancashire Coastal Way The Lancashire Coastal Way is a long-distance footpath following the coast of the county of Lancashire in the north west of England. Its end points are Silverdale in the north and Freckleton in the south. Its length is variously asserted to ...

passes the site of the abbey Image:Ruins at Cockersand Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 1188056.jpg, Surviving fragment of a wall

References

Footnotes

Sources

* Anthony New. ''A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales'', pp. 116–117. Constable. *

External links

* * British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol2/pp154-159 {{City of Lancaster buildings Premonstratensian monasteries in England Monasteries in Lancashire Grade I listed buildings in Lancashire Scheduled monuments in Lancashire Christian monasteries established in the 1190s Buildings and structures in the City of Lancaster 1180s establishments in England Grade I listed monasteries Former civil parishes in Lancashire