Lacock Abbey (monastery)
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Lacock Abbey was a
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
founded at
Lacock Lacock is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, England, about 3 miles (5 km) south of the town of Chippenham, and about outside the Cotswolds area. The village is owned almost in its enti ...
, in the county of
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
in
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 ...
, in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a house of Augustinian
Canonesses regular A canoness is a member of a religious community of women, historically a stable community dedicated to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in a particular church. The name corresponds to a canon, the male equivalent, and both roles share a ...
. It was seized by the crown in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
. It then became a country house,
Lacock Abbey Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. The abbey remained a nunnery until the Dissolution of the monasteries in ...
, notable as the site of
Henry Fox Talbot William Henry Fox Talbot (; 11 February 180017 September 1877) was an English scientist, inventor, and photography pioneer who invented the salted paper and calotype processes, precursors to photographic processes of the later 19th and 20th c ...
's early experiments in photography.


Foundation and founder

It seems that the
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
's foundation was resolved upon by Ela, Countess of Salisbury in 1226. Ela was the only child and the heir of William FitzPatrick, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, and at his death when she was still a child, became Countess of Salisbury in her own right. When still a child of nine she had been married to William Longespée, an illegitimate son of King
Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...
. It was shortly after her husband's death that Countess Ela decided on the foundation. Her eldest son, the heir, also William being a minor, the plan was delayed until he could give his consent. However, in 1229, the foundress made her move by giving her manor of Lacock, together with the moiety of the advowson of the church, to God and the Blessed Mary and St Bernard, toward the building there of an abbey of nuns to be called "locus beate Marie" ("the place of the Blessed Mary"), with the consent of her son, and this was subsequently confirmed by charters of King Henry III, on 31 January 1230 and 26 February following. Countess Ela laid the abbey's first stone on 16 April 1232, in the reign of King Henry III at a site on Snail's Meadow ("Snaylesmede") lying between the village and the River Avon. The first of the nuns were veiled that same year 1232, the very first being Alicia Garinges, who was probably previously a nun of the English Augustinian house
Goring Priory Goring Priory was a medieval monastery of Augustinian Canonesses regular in Oxfordshire, England, established before 1181. When Burnham Abbey was established in 1265/6 by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, an entire community of nuns was sent from Gor ...
, in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
, a house which had been established before 1181. When Burnham Abbey was established in 1265/6 by
Richard, Earl of Cornwall Richard (5 January 1209 – 2 April 1272) was an English prince who was King of the Romans from 1257 until his death in 1272. He was the second son of John, King of England, and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême. Richard was nominal Count of ...
, an entire community of nuns was brought from Goring. From the dedication it is fairly clear that the founder's intention at first had been to found a nunnery that would belong to the
Cistercian Order The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...
. However, this was preempted by a decision of the 1228 Cistercian general chapter to confirm its opposition to accepting responsibility for any more convents of women. Moreover, when Robert Bingham,
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...
gave his formal approval to the foundation on 20 April 1230, he enjoined upon the nuns the following of the Rule of St Augustine. This made of the house one of the relatively few Augustinian nunneries in England. It is most likely that Ela intended from the first to become abbess of her own foundation, a sign of this being the fact that the house was ruled in the initial period by a prioress, Wymarca. Advised apparently by Saint
Edmund Rich Edmund of Abingdon (also known as Edmund Rich, St Edmund of Canterbury, Edmund of Pontigny, French: St Edme; c. 11741240) was an Catholic Church in England and Wales, English Catholic prelate who served as List of archbishops of Canterbury, Ar ...
,
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, she took the habit as a nun in late 1237 or early 1238 and was elected at the latest by the feast of the Assumption (15 August) of 1239, receiving the bishop's blessing as abbess for some reason at Sherston. She remained abbess until 31 December 1257, when she resigned in favour of Beatrice of Kent. She died on the feast of St. Bartholomew, 24 August 1261, and was buried in the choir of the abbey church. To the initial endowment of the manor and village of Lacock, were added eventually by Ela and her son, among other properties, the manors of Hatherop, Bishopstrow,
Chitterne Chitterne is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the county of Wiltshire, in the south west of England. The village lies in the middle of Salisbury Plain, about east of the town of Warminster. The Chitterne Brook, a small ...
, Upham in Aldbourne and Woodmancote.


Development

Throughout the thirteenth century Lady Ela's descendants remained close to the abbey, both in bestowing material support and by choosing it as a preferred burial place. Of Ela's eight or nine children, two sons ‒ Richard, a
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
of Salisbury and
Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...
,
Justiciar of Ireland The chief governor was the senior official in the Dublin Castle administration, which maintained English and British rule in Ireland from the 1170s to 1922. The chief governor was the viceroy of the English monarch (and later the British monar ...
‒ were buried in the abbey church, as was the heart of a third son, Nicholas,
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...
. Ela's granddaughter Margaret, Countess of Lincoln, took a close interest in the abbey and in 1309 was buried in the abbey church. Other granddaughters, the sisters Katherine and Lorica FitzWalter, became nuns at Lacock. The building of the Abbey presumably took some time, since enry III contributed 4 oaks from the forest of Chippenham in 1246 and a further 15 from the royal forests, in 1264 and in 1247 donated 50 marks, while in 1285 Edward I of England">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 ...
again gave 10 oaks from Melksham Forest. In 1242 Henry III granted a fair at Lacock on the vigil, the feast, and the morrow of the Translation of St. Thomas of Canterbury (7 July) and a Tuesday market, in 1257 at Chitterne a fair on the vigil and feast of St. Peter and St. Paul (29 June) and the six days following and a Monday market, and in 1260 a Friday market at Lacock. Along with various wood-gathering rights, the Abbey also received in 1260 from the king 40 acres of Melksham Forest. Various members of the nobility similarly made various grants of lands and of rents in the latter part of the century, even after Ela's death, though no important land was acquired after 1300. Other privileges were countered by obligations and exactions in the mesh of feudal obligations, though the nuns sometimes managed to contest these at law or to obtain remittance or exemption from the crown. Developments in the 14th century included a lady-chapel, a separate lodging for the abbess, and major alterations to the dorter and frater, with work on remodelling the cloister continuing into the next century. Already in the time of the second abbess, Beatrice of Kent, a water conduit was constructed bringing supplies from
Bowden Hill Bowden Hill is a village in Wiltshire, England, in Lacock parish about south of Chippenham and to the east of Lacock village. Bowden Hill has about 50 houses, a pub, and a small industrial estate. Origins of the name The spelling 'Bowdon Hil ...
, along with a corn mill within the Abbey close. As elsewhere, the early presence of noblewomen among the nuns soon gave way to the daughters of modestly prosperous landowners and burgesses. It is interesting to see a note of the expenses for the clothing in 1395–1396 of Joan, the daughter of Nicholas Samborne. Joan's habit consisted of a tunic of white woollen cloth, a mantle lined with white cloth for summer and another lined with fur for winter, a fur pilch (a type of leather cloak with the fur on the inside), a veil, and wimple, and she had also trousseau that included a bed with mattress, blankets, coverlet, and tester, a silver spoon and a mazer-bowl (a wide, shallow bowl). As was often the case with medieval English nunneries, the house was not always in financially positive circumstances and in 1403 it was given exemption from royal taxation for reason of poverty and 40 years exemption in 1447 after the bell-tower and bells, the bakehouse, the brewery, and two barns full of corn at Lacock had been set afire by lightning and destroyed, as had the grange buildings at Chitterne. Little is known with any continuity of the abbey's accounts, but something of the abbey's farming and other income. For one thing, as the centuries passed, there seems to have been a general tendency to let out the lands rather than exploiting them directly. This necessarily included a coal-mine at Hanham in Gloucestershire which the abbey owned and leased out. Still, apart from consumption of meat of animals for their own nutrition, in 1476 the abbey was engaged in sheep-rearing on a commercial scale to the extent of having a flock of over 2,000 sheep, most of them on the manor of Chitterne. The inventory drawn up at Chitterne at the Dissolution records 600 wethers, 600 ewes, and 300 hogs and, at the same period, among their employees were 15 hinds and a swanherd. Moreover, while the indications that can be gleaned from the uneven surviving data are insufficient for a fuller picture, in August 1535, the commissioner John Ap Rice reported that “the house is very clene, well prepared and well ordered” and in 1536 the commissioners noted that the church, house and the buildings in general were “in very good astate”, and they added: “Owing by the house nil, and to the house nil.”


Spiritual health

There exist no surviving records of the outcome of bishops’ visitations, though these are known to have taken place, at least in the 14th and 15th centuries. It would appear that these were not always occasions when the nuns wanted to convince the bishop of the austerity of their life, since the cellaress's roll for Wednesday 30 August 1347 records the purchase of salmon, lobsters, crabs and lampreys for the visitation by Bishop Robert Wyvil of
Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
. The abbey contracted various obligations of praying for dead benefactors and of giving alms for that purpose. An early benefactor Sir John Bluet claimed burial in a Lady chapel to be constructed for the purpose but it was also agreed that there would be a chantry to may for the souls of him and his wife and that on his anniversary a halfpenny would be given to each of a thousand poor. The nuns seem never to have reached high numbers. In 1395 there were 22; in 1445, 17 nuns with the right to vote; in 1473 only 14 nuns, while at the Dissolution there were a total of 17 members of the community, including 3 novices. The latter fact seems significant, since it suggests that the house was still attractive enough to be recruiting. Indeed, the broader condition of the house, even on a moral plane, appears to have been healthy and the surviving records over the whole period report no serious scandal.


Abbesses of Lacock

The list that follows may be incomplete. The dates indicate mentions in the records, not definite extremes of the term of office. *Wymarca (prioress) *Ela (first abbess) (1239–1257) *Beatrice of Kent (1257–1269?) *Alice (1282, 1286) *Juliana (1288, 1290) *Agnes (1299) *Joan de Montfort (1303?–1332) *Katherine le Cras (1332–1334) *Sybil de Sainte Croix (1334–1349) *Maud de Montfort (1349–1356) *Agnes de Brymesden (1356–1361) *Faith Selyman (1361-?1380) *Agnes de Wyke (1380-?) *Ellen de Montfort (1405-?) *Agnes Frary or Fray (1429–1445) *Agnes Draper (1445–1473) *Margery Glowceteror or Gloucestrie (1473-?) *Joan Temse or Temmse, Temys (1516?–1539)


Books

While not all medieval English nuns could read, or read fluently, some took part in literary culture – especially those who were women of social rank. The books in the house would often include at least a small library with biblical texts, lives of the Saints and other spiritual works, and perhaps some books on practical subjects, bearing in mind that the management of the abbey would have been a considerable challenge. Furthermore, the celebration of the liturgy for a large part of the day and night would necessitate texts for the participants; for celebrations of the sacraments, the nuns would rely on one or more chaplains who would also need liturgical books. 120px , St Edmund of Abingdon It is possible that the treatise, ''Speculum Ecclesiae'', was originally written by Saint
Edmund Rich Edmund of Abingdon (also known as Edmund Rich, St Edmund of Canterbury, Edmund of Pontigny, French: St Edme; c. 11741240) was an Catholic Church in England and Wales, English Catholic prelate who served as List of archbishops of Canterbury, Ar ...
(died 1240) in Anglo-French under the title of ''Miroir de Sainte Eglise'' for Ela and her community, though none of the surviving manuscripts seem traceable to the abbey. Current scholarship has identified only three books as having belonged physically to Lacock Abbey, as follows. In 1399 Bishop Ralph Erghum of Salisbury left the Abbess of Lacock "my beautiful psalter which the Rector of Marnhull gave me". This may be the psalter now in the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
(MS Laud. Lat. 114 (649). In 2011 two books originally at the abbey, and still there apparently within living memory, went under the hammer at Christie's. One was a decorated vellum manuscript copy of the work of a 12th-century English clergyman, William Brito, ''Expositiones Vocabulorum Biblie'', was purchased by the National Trust and is now kept at Lacock. The volume shows signs of having been chained, and has incorporated into the binding 13th-century financial accounts of the abbey. The other book sold at the time was said to be a collection of treatises in Anglo-Norman verse, opening with
Walter of Bibbesworth Walter of Bibbesworth (middle of sec.XIII–at least 1277) was an English knight and Anglo-Norman poet. Documents confirm that he held land in the parish of Kimpton, Hertfordshire at the farm now called Bibbsworth Hall ("Bibbs Hall" on some m ...
's '' Le tretiz''. This too is a decorated manuscript on vellum and dates probably to the first half of the 14th century. In its binding are leaves from a manuscript, dateable to about 1300, containing theological notes that refer to the writings of St
Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...
; this has led some to think they might be the work of William of Cirencester, a Dominican friar whom Bishop Simon of Ghent of
Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
appointed penitentiary (confessor) at Lacock Abbey in 1303. In a different category are the manuscript cartularies of Lacock Abbey which were acquired by the
British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...
in 2011, and are conserved in two volumes in medieval binding, now classed as Additional MS 88973 and Additional MS 88974. They are viewable in digitised copy on the library's website.


The seal

There are a number of surviving impressions of the Abbey's seal dating from the period from the 13th and 16th centuries. Its shape is a pointed oval showing the
Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
wearing a crown and seated on a carved throne with the Child Jesus on her left knee. Above is a panelled and pinnacled canopy surmounted by a cross, and below a trefoiled arch above an unidentified kneeling figure with hands raised in prayer. The inscription is “S' CONVENT BEATE MARIE SANCTI B'NARDI DE LACOC”. The motif as regards the
Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
is known as the
Seat of Wisdom Seat of Wisdom or Throne of Wisdom (Latin: ''sedes sapientiae'') is one of many titles of Mary, devotional titles for Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary in Roman Catholic tradition. In Seat of Wisdom icons and sculptures, Mary is seated on a throne wit ...
(''Sedes sapientiae''), which was a common motif for seals of nunneries in medieval England, though not the majority choice. The motif usually depicts of the Blessed Virgin seated and facing forward, presenting or holding the
Christ Child The Christ Child—also known as Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, Child Jesus, Divine Child, Divine Infant and the Holy Child—refers to Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ during his early years. The term refers to a period of life of Jesus, Jesus' l ...
on her lap, often seated. Doubtless it was the practive at Lacock as elsewhere for some at least of the heads of house to have a personal seal. Impressions have survived of that of the Lady Ela as abbess. It, too, is a pointed oval, showing the
Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
and Child Jesus under a canopy. What can be read of the inscription is “... GILL ELE ABB … TISSE DE LA ...” (i.e. Sigill(um) Ele abbatisse de Lacoc” – “Seal of Ela, abbess of Lacock”). The seal of the Priory at some periods at least seems to have depicted the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, which is not a particularly common motif in medieval English nunneries.


Seizure

According to the 1536 Commissioners the abbey was for the town “and all other adioynynge by common reaporte a greate Releef”, and the nuns were “by Reporte and in apparaunce of vertuous lyvyng, all desyrynge to contynue religios”. However, the ultimate game of the crown was not an inspection of the spiritual health of the monastic houses, but to spy out and bleed their material resources. The abbey, whose gross income was assessed in 1534 at about £203, was on the bordline of the criterion for suppression, which stood at £200 and below. On 30 January 1537, for the outlay of a £300 “fine” it was granted a licence to continue. The exactions continued, however, and before two years had passed, the end came. It was on 21 January 1539 that the abbey was surrendered to
William Petre Sir William Petre (c. 1505 – 1572) (pronounced ''Peter'') was Secretary of State to three successive Tudor monarchs, namely Kings Henry VIII, Edward VI and Queen Mary I. He also deputised for the Secretary of State to Elizabeth I. Educated ...
, and
John Tregonwell Sir John Tregonwell (died 1565) was a Cornish jurist, a principal agent of Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1524 to 1536.C.S. Gilb ...
, who with John Smyth in those months visited over 40 houses on behalf of the government on an identical mission. At Lacock nuns of the community were dispersed with a pension, the highest sum being for the abbess, who received £40, the prioress, Elizabeth Monmorthe, £5, then down the scale to the novices, who received £2 each. By the year's end two of the nuns had died, and fourteen years later the recipients were only seven, including the former abbess.


A country house

As was the habitual procedure, the abbey's buildings were stripped of lead, which at Lacock realized £193, before being released to the prospective purchaser,
William Sharington knight, Sir William Sharington (born in around 1495, died before 6 July 1553) was an English landowner and merchant, a courtier of the time of Henry VIII, master and Embezzlement, embezzler of the Bristol Mint (coin), Mint, member of parliame ...
, later Sir William Sharington (c.1495–1553), a courtier, politician and entrepreneur, who farmed the site of the abbey together with the manor and rectory of Lacock along with other local monastic properties until the purchase was completed in the summer of 1540. He paid the crown £783 for the Abbey. He demolished the church and adapted the remaining buildings as a dwelling. From the sale of the church bells he raised money to rebuild Ray bridge so that the public road would not lead to what was now his residence.


The new owner

Having been made head of the royal mint at Bristol, Sharington perverted the minting process for his own enrichment then diverted funds to a conspiracy aiming at a ''coup d’état'' in the reign of
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 ...
. Though caught and accused of treason, Sharington escaped through his connections, including the reformer
Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the ...
, who lauded him in a
sermon A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present context ...
preached before the boy king during
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of 1549, calling him "an honest gentleman, and one that God loveth... a chosen man of God, and one of his elected". In November 1549 Sharington secured a pardon and for a massive fine of £12,867 recovered his estates, including the Lacock Abbey property.C.E. Challis, ''Sharington, Sir William (c. 1495–1553), administrator and embezzler'', in ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'', Oxford University Press, September 2004 Thereafter ownership of the latter was transmitted by inheritance not sale until 1944, when it passed to the
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
.


See also

*
Catholic Church in England The Catholic Church in England and Wales (; ) is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th century, when Pope Gregory I through a Roman missionary and Benedictine monk, Augustine, ...
* List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England


Notes


Further reading

*''Houses of Augustinian canonesses: Abbey of Lacock'', in Ralph B. Pugh & Elizabeth Crittall (edd.), ''A History of the County of Wiltshire, vol. 3'', London, 1956, pp. 303–316. British History Online http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol3/pp303-316 ccessed 21 October 2017 *Kenneth H. Rogers, ''Lacock Abbey Charters'', Wiltshire Record Society, Devizes, 1979 (= ''Wiltshire Record Society'' 34) ‒ a substantial modern calendar of texts. *''Lacock Conservation Management Plan Prepared for the National Trust by Land Use Consultants June 2012'' https://www.raa.se/app/uploads/2015/11/Lacock-CMP.pdf ccessed 22 October 2017 {{coord, 51.4146, -2.1172, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Monasteries in Wiltshire Augustinian nunneries in England 1229 establishments in England 1539 disestablishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 1220s