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* {{Cite PastScape |num= 72883|desc= Vale Royal Abbey|access-date= 5 September 2012|mode=cs2}} |
* {{Cite PastScape |num= 72883|desc= Vale Royal Abbey|access-date= 5 September 2012|mode=cs2}} |
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* {{NHLE |num= 1160911|desc= Church of St Mary, Whitegate and Marton|access-date= 5 September 2012 |mode=cs2|fewer-links=yes}} |
* {{NHLE |num= 1160911|desc= Church of St Mary, Whitegate and Marton|access-date= 5 September 2012 |mode=cs2|fewer-links=yes}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book | last = Holland| first = G. D.| last2 = Hickson| first2 = J. N.| last3 = Vose | first3 = R. Hurst| last4 = Challinor| first4 = J. E. | year = 1977| title = Vale Royal Abbey and House |
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| location=Winsford|oclc=27001031|publisher = Winsford Local History Society|ref=harv}} |
| location=Winsford|oclc=27001031|publisher = Winsford Local History Society|ref=harv}} |
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* {{Cite book | ref = harv | last = Hopkirk | first = Mary | editor-last = Bruce-Mitford | editor-first = Rupert | editor-link = Rupert Bruce-Mitford | title = The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial: Excavations, Background, the Ship, Dating and Inventory |volume=I| date = 1975 | publisher = British Museum Publications | location = London | pages = xxxvi–xxxviii |isbn = 978-0-71411-334-0 }} |
* {{Cite book | ref = harv | last = Hopkirk | first = Mary | editor-last = Bruce-Mitford | editor-first = Rupert | editor-link = Rupert Bruce-Mitford | title = The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial: Excavations, Background, the Ship, Dating and Inventory |volume=I| date = 1975 | publisher = British Museum Publications | location = London | pages = xxxvi–xxxviii |isbn = 978-0-71411-334-0 }} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book | last = Hubbard| first = Edward | year = 1991 |title = The Work of John Douglas |publisher = The Victorian Society|location=London|isbn = 978-0-90165-716-9 |ref=harv}} |
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* {{cite book|title=Monastic Hospitality: The Benedictines in England, C.1070-c.1250|last=Kerr|first=J.|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84383-326-0|location=Woodbridge|ref=harv}} |
* {{cite book|title=Monastic Hospitality: The Benedictines in England, C.1070-c.1250|last=Kerr|first=J.|publisher=Boydell Press|year=2007|isbn=978-1-84383-326-0|location=Woodbridge|ref=harv}} |
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* {{cite book|title=Monasteries and Society in the British Isles in the Later Middle Ages|author-last=Kerr|first=|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84383-386-4|editor1-last=Burton|editor1-first=J. E.|location=Woodbrige|pages=25–39|chapter=Cistercian Hospitality in the Later Middle Ages|ref=harv|editor2-last=Stöber|editor2-first=K.}} |
* {{cite book|title=Monasteries and Society in the British Isles in the Later Middle Ages|author-last=Kerr|first=|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84383-386-4|editor1-last=Burton|editor1-first=J. E.|location=Woodbrige|pages=25–39|chapter=Cistercian Hospitality in the Later Middle Ages|ref=harv|editor2-last=Stöber|editor2-first=K.}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book | editor1-last = Latham| editor1-first = F. A.| year = 1993 |title = Vale Royal| publication-place = Whitchurch, Shropshire | publisher = The Local History Group|oclc = 29636689|ref=harv}} |
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* {{cite journal|last=Lewis|first=F. R.|year=1938|title=The History of Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire, in the Later Middle Ages|journal=Transactions and archaeological record of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society|volume=12|oclc=690106742|ref=harv}} |
* {{cite journal|last=Lewis|first=F. R.|year=1938|title=The History of Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire, in the Later Middle Ages|journal=Transactions and archaeological record of the Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society|volume=12|oclc=690106742|ref=harv}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Lloyd|first=T. H. |title=The English Wool Trade in the Middle Ages|year=1977|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-52121-239-7|ref=harv}} |
* {{cite book|last=Lloyd|first=T. H. |title=The English Wool Trade in the Middle Ages|year=1977|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-52121-239-7|ref=harv}} |
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* {{Cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8517|title=Edward I (1239–1307)|last=Prestwich|first=M.|date=2004|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=11 June 2018|archiveurl=https://archive.is/U7j8b|archivedate=11 June 2018|subscription=yes|ref=harv}} |
* {{Cite web|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-8517|title=Edward I (1239–1307)|last=Prestwich|first=M.|date=2004|website=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=11 June 2018|archiveurl=https://archive.is/U7j8b|archivedate=11 June 2018|subscription=yes|ref=harv}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Ramsay|first=J. H.|title=The Dawn of the Constitution: Or, the Reigns of Henry III and Edward I (A.D. 1216-137)|year=1908|oclc=499117200|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|ref=harv}} |
* {{cite book|last=Ramsay|first=J. H.|title=The Dawn of the Constitution: Or, the Reigns of Henry III and Edward I (A.D. 1216-137)|year=1908|oclc=499117200|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=London|ref=harv}} |
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* {{ |
* {{cite book | last = Robinson| first = David| last2 = Burton| first2 = Janet |last3 = Coldstream| first3 = Nicola| last4 = Coppack| first4 = Glyn| last5 = Fawcett|first5 = Richard|year = 1998| title=The Cistercian Abbeys of Britain |publisher = Batsford |location=London|isbn = 978-0-71348-392-5|ref=harv}} |
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* {{cite book|title=Early Medieval Architecture|last=Stalley|first=R. A.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-19284-223-7|series=Oxford History of Art|location=Oxford|pages=|ref=harv}} |
* {{cite book|title=Early Medieval Architecture|last=Stalley|first=R. A.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0-19284-223-7|series=Oxford History of Art|location=Oxford|pages=|ref=harv}} |
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* {{cite book|last=Steane|first=J.|title=The Archaeology of the Medieval English Monarchy|year=1993|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-13464-159-8|ref=harv}} |
* {{cite book|last=Steane|first=J.|title=The Archaeology of the Medieval English Monarchy|year=1993|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-1-13464-159-8|ref=harv}} |
Revision as of 04:36, 3 April 2019
Monastery information | |
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Full name | The Abbey Church of St Mary the Virgin, St Nicholas, and St Nicasius, Vale Royal |
Other names | Vale Royal Abbey |
Order | Cistercian |
Established | 1270/1277 |
Disestablished | 1538 |
Mother house | Dore Abbey |
Dedicated to | Virgin Mary, St Nicholas, St Nicasius |
Diocese | Diocese of Lichfield |
Controlled churches | Frodsham, Weaverham, Ashbourne, Castleton, St Padarn's Church, Llanbadarn Fawr |
People | |
Founder(s) | Edward I |
Important associated figures | Edward I, Thomas Holcroft |
Site | |
Location | Whitegate, Cheshire, United Kingdom |
Coordinates | 53°13′29″N 2°32′33″W / 53.2247°N 2.5426°W |
Visible remains | Foundations of the church, surviving rooms within later house, earthworks. Gate chapel survives as parish church |
Public access | None |
Vale Royal Abbey is a medieval abbey, and later a country house, located in Whitegate, between Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, England.
The abbey was founded in 1270 by Prince Edward for monks of the austere Cistercian order. Edward intended the abbey to be on the grandest scale. However, financial difficulties meant that these ambitions could not be fulfilled and the final building was considerably smaller than planned. The project ran into problems in other ways. The abbey was frequently grossly mismanaged, relations with the local population were so poor as to cause outbreaks of large-scale violence on a number of occasions, and internal discipline was frequently bad.
Vale Royal was closed in 1538 by Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Much of the abbey, including the church, was demolished but some of the cloister buildings were incorporated into a mansion by Sir Thomas Holcroft, an important government official, during the 1540s. Over subsequent centuries this house was considerably altered and extended by successive generations of the Holcroft family. Vale Royal came into the possession of the Cholmondeley family in the early 1600s and remained a seat of the family for more than 300 years. It was sold after the Second World War and was turned into a private golf club. The building remains habitable and contains surviving rooms from the medieval abbey, including the refectory and kitchen. The foundations of the church and cloister have been excavated.
Vale Royal Abbey is a scheduled ancient monument,[1][2] and recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building.[3]
Foundation
The abbey now known as Vale Royal was originally founded in Darnhall by Prince Edward, the future Edward I, before his accession to the throne. Supposedly caught in extremely rough weather, which made the King and his entourage feared for their lives, Edward made a vow to the Virgin Mary promising to found an abbey in her name if they were saved. Almost immediately, says a chronicler, the seas calmed, and the ships returned peacefully to England. The moment the last man had stepped ashore, the chronicler continues, the storm broke out again, more violent than ever, and Edward's ship was smashed on the harbour.[note 1] However, these dates do not fit with what is known: King Edward only went on crusade once, in 1270, not returning until his father Henry III died in 1272. By this time Darnhall Abbey's foundation charter had already been granted. This charter did indeed make mention of the King being at "sometime in danger upon the sea",[4], and it has been suggested by a recent biographer of the King, that it refers to a stormy Channel crossing in the 1260s.[5][6][note 2] Michael Prestwich, has, however, noted a crusader connection for Edward's new foundation. The first charter concerned with the project is dated four years' earlier than the foundation charter, in August 1270. This was just before Edward left on crusade, and Prestwich suggests that it although Edward probably founded the Abbey as a request, it was not for rescue, but for protection in the future.[6] Political problems and civil war meant that the vow could not be fulfilled immediately, but by 1266 negotiations were in hand for the establishment of a monastery of Cistercian monks in the secluded location of Darnhall in Cheshire.[8] This consisted of a manor house and estate of the earls of Chester now in royal hands.[9] In August 1270, Edward granted a charter to his new abbey along with an endowment of lands and churches.[10]
Habitation and closure
Things did not go smoothly; preparing the site took considerable time and the first monks, led by Abbot John Chaumpeneys,[8] did not arrive at Darnhall from Dore abbey—which remained Vale Royal's Motherhouse[11]—until 1274.[10] The foundation of the new abbey provoked anger, resentment and strong resistance from the people of the area as its existence and the grants of land required, locals claimed, impinged on villagers' customary liberties.[12] The abbey was, for example, granted the forestry rights and free warren of Darnhall Forest which surrounded the villages.[8]
The Darnhall site was soon found to be unsuitable for the huge buildings planned.[8][10][note 3] It may be that it had only ever been intended as a temporary site,[13] but in any case, in 1276 Edward—now King—agreed to move the abbey to a better site and a location was chosen in nearby Over on the edge of the Forest of Mondrem. This foundation was named Vale Royal. On 13 August 1277 the King and Queen Eleanor, their son Alphonso[note 4] and numerous nobles[note 5] arrived at Over to lay the foundation stones of the new abbey,[8] marking the spot of the high altar.[9] Chaumpeneys then performed a celebratory Mass.[15] In 1281 the monks moved from Darnhall to temporary accommodation on the Vale Royal site while the abbey was built. It was intended to be the biggest and grandest Cistercian church in Christian Europe.[16]
The precise siting of the new institution, and its boundaries, in a modern landscape, is hard to assess. Broadly, it was within the monks' new manor of Conersley, on parcels of land that were renamed Vale Royal to indicate the abbey's status as occupier. The southern point was probably around Petty Pool, past Earnslow, to the Weaver (where the abbey's fishponds were), then following the river as far as Bradford Mill: an area of approximately 400 acres (160 ha).[13]
Estates and finances
The village of Over was the natural centre of the abbey's estates, and was now, like the surrounding villages, under the Abbot's feudal lordship.[17] The abbey's original endowment at Darnhall included not only the site of the establishment in Delamere Forest, but also the manors of Darnhall, Langwith in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and the advowsons of Frodsham, Weaverham, and Ashbourne and Castleton.[8] These included Conewardsly (granted in 1276), followed in 1280 by Wirral lands (some distance away notwithstanding), and in 1285 they received various manors belonging to members of the local gentry, including those of Hugh de Merton around Over, as well as Bradford and Guilden Sutton.[17] Ashbourne, however, was not held for long: within a few years, Vale Royal had been forced to cede the advowson to Lincoln Cathedral for the sum of £400. In exchange, though, the King arranged in 1280 for Vale Royal to receive the wealthy Kirkham Priory. This was then in the possession of Shrewsbury, but a combination of royal pressure and legal chicanery forced Shrewsbury to renounce its rights. Reflecting this, Jeffrey Denton has noted that "even [Vale Royal's] own chronicler cast some doubt on the justice of these proceedings".[18] The abbey possessed a glass making forge, which made a small profit.[13]
Wool exports were the abbey's main source of income. In 1283, Abbot Chaumpeneys acknowledged receipt of 53s 6d 8p as an advance on the abbey's eventual delivery of twelve sacks of collecta.[note 6] These transactions were paid for before the merchant sold on, on the proviso that the profit was put back into the monastery.[21] In all, by the mid-1330s, Abbot Peter calculated that the abbey's income was £248 17s, of which £60 was consumed by hospitality;[note 7] this compared to £16 in wages for the abbey's servant staff, £21 in expenses for the abbot, £30 for defensive measures, and £50 in "gifts, damages and contributions."[17] The remainder—insufficiently, said Abbot Pete in 1336—went on the everyday needs of the monks.[17] And by 1342, under the abbacy of Robert de Cheyneston, the abbey was £20 in debt, and a fire had burnt down the abbey's monastic granges at Bradford and Hefferston. As a result, the monks both lost all the corn they had stored in them when it happened and also had to purchase sufficient to live on until the next harvest.[24] He complained that he required £100 to repair the granges and their weirs, as well as parts of the church roof and the abbey building itself.[17]
Vale Royal's finances seem to have improved by the 15th century. Two taxes assessed the abbey at respectively £346 0s. 4d in 1509 and, twenty-six years later, at £540 6s 2d.[8] Not only were incomes up, but costs were down: of the first, only about £92 was ever spent, and of the latter only slightly over £21. The abbey was also wealthy in goods and possessions and oxen; however, it also had far fewer monks then historically intended: The Abbot of Dore, visiting Vale Royal in 1509, found only fifteen resident out of a supposed complement of thirty.[16]
Construction
During the 1958 excavation, the siting of the new abbey—at the time still heavily wooded and not dissimilar to the medieval environs—was described as being
on the left bank of the river Weaver, 2½ miles southwest of Northwich. It stands on level ground from which there is a fairly rapid slope northwards down to the river, a factor which must have assisted considerably in the natural drainage of the heavy clay subsoil.[25]
— F. H. Thompson, Excavations at the Cistercian Abbey of Vale Royal, Cheshire, 1958'
King Edward had vast ambitions for Vale Royal. It was intended to be an abbey of the first importance, to surpass all the other houses of its order in Britain in scale and beauty and provide a fitting symbol of the wealth and power of the English monarchy and Edward's piety and personal greatness.[10] Edward intended it to be more grandiose than his grandfather King John's Abbey at Beaulieu.[26] It was a comparable project for Edward as Westminster Abbey had been to his father, and as Henry had planned to be buried in the former, it is possible that Edward has similar plans for himself at Vale Royal.[27] In the event, Vale Royal Abbey was both his biggest and his only such act of piety; he was to neither found nor fund any other houses.[28] The plans for the buildings reflected this. Fifty-one[29] masons from around the country, under the leadership of Walter of Hereford[10][note 8]—one of the foremost architects of his day—started work on a huge and elaborate high gothic church the size of a cathedral,[31] within which there were thirty copes, two silver crosses, six chalices, a gold collar, a silver pastoral staff and other valuable possessions.[17] It was to be 116m long and cruciform in shape with a central tower.[31] The east end was semi-circular with a chevet of 13 radiating chapels, some square, some polygonal; each of the transepts also had a row of three chapels on its eastern side.[31] South of the church stood a cloister, 42m square, surrounded by the domestic buildings of the house, which were to be of a scale and grandeur to match the church.[31] The undermaster of the works between 1278 and 1280 was John of Battle, who would later construct the King's memorial crosses on the death of Edward's Queen.[32] The design was to be apsidal.[33] A set of contemporary accounts, covering the years 1277 to 1281 exists, which shows that 35,000 cartloads of stone—over 30 a day—were brought nine miles from quarries at Eddisbury.[34] Timber came from local forests—particularly Delamere—with which workshops and dwellings were built.[9][note 9] These cost 45 shillings;[29] a total of £3,000 was spent on building works during these years.[30]
At first, matters went well. The king greatly expanded the initial endowment and made large donations of cash and materials. for the work.[8] Initially providing 1,000 marks in cash for the project, Edward also provided the monks with revenues from his earldom of Chester. Furthermore, in 1281, the Justice of Chester had been instructed to release the same amount to the monks every year.[13] Two years later, sufficient progress had been made to allow the new church to be consecrated, and this was done by the Bishop of Durham, Anthony Bek. The King attended the service with his court.[13] He donated a relic of the True Cross which he had captured on his crusade—as part of the Abbey's endowment.[35]
Soon, however, things began to go wrong. As the 1280s progressed the royal finances first got into arrears and eventually dried up completely. King Edward needed money to pay for his war in Wales and workmen to build the great castles such as Harlech he put up to cement his conquest. He took not only the money that had been set aside for Vale Royal but also conscripted Vale Royal's masons and other labourers.[36] This was around the time that building work began on the monks' own cloister, which were to possess marble columns shipped from the south of England.[16]
In 1290 the King announced that he was no longer interested in the abbey: "The King has ceased to concern himself with the works of that church and henceforth will have nothing more to do with them."[37] The reason for King's volte-face is unknown, but historians have speculated that the monks may have incurred his displeasure, or also that it was the result of the illness and subsequent death of Queen Eleanor in November the same year.[37] Once-large royal grants became meagre.[38] The monks were left struggling to pay to complete the vast project and provide the running costs of it all by themselves,[39] a task that would prove beyond their means. Despite possessing a substantial income, the abbey incurred huge debts to other church institutions, royal officials, the building contractors and even to the merchants of Lucca.[8][note 10] It is even possible that funds were being misappropriated.[16] Work stopped for at least a decade after 1290 and was resumed only on a much-reduced scale thereafter.[8]
14th century
By the 1330s the monks had managed to complete the east end of the church (the rest remained a shell) and sufficient of the cloister buildings to make the place habitable, though far from complete,[31] with much of the main vault exposed to the Cheshire weather.[26] By now royal funding had all but dried up; in 1336, Abbot Peter complained that vaults, cloisters, chapter house and dormitories were all yet to be built.[9]
The abbot and the community of monks moved from their temporary wooden lodgings, then "unsightly and ruinous," into the new monastic buildings. Much work still needed to be done; the vaults, roof, cloisters, chapter house, dormitory, refectory and other offices either needed to be completed or else started.[17]
A. J. Bostock and S. M. Hogg
In 1353 there was cause for renewed hope. Edward the Black Prince, King Edward III's son and heir—now also Earl of Chester was fully invested in his father's wars in France, and Cheshire was an important source of soldiery to him. In return, the Prince lavishly patronised the county's gentry and institutions, with Vale Royal—described by Anthony Emery as an "extravagant 'war' church"—foremost among them.[40] Edward had nominally taken Vale Royal (Valreal in his writ) under his personal protection in 1340,[41] but was keen to see abbey completed and donated substantial funds to the job.[8][31] This amounted to 500 marks in cash immediately, with the same amount being paid five years later,[17] when the prince personally visited Vale Royal.[8] Also to this end, in 1359, Prince Edward granted Vale Royal the advowson and church of Llanbadarn Fawr, Ceredigion to supply further financing for the building works.[16][note 11] William Helpeston was contracted to oversee the works,[33] beginning in August 1359,[39] which were expected to take six years.[16] The choir was completed the first year.[40]
Work began on completing the shell of the nave and making the east end even grander. It was based on the similar—and modern—design of Toledo Cathedral.[16] However, the following year, in October 1359, during a massive storm, much of the nave (including the new lead roof put in place by the previous abbot) was blown down and destroyed, the arcades of the unfinished nave crashing down in ruins.[43] The destruction was comprehensive, ranging "from the wall at the west end to the bell-tower before the gates of the choir," whilst the timber scaffolding collapsed "'like trees uprooted by the wind."[44]
Repairs slowly took place over the next thirteen years, and Abbot Thomas may have been responsible for the "unique chevet of seven radiating chapels" that were installed.[45] Work was still taking place in 1368 when the Prince of Wales recommissioned the masons.[16] However, the overall stature of the remodelled church was to be smaller than before,[45] with the nave reduced both in height and width.[16] This was the result of an agreement—under the patronage of Richard II, since the abbey was a royal foundation[39]—to finish the abbey on a much-reduced scale from what was originally planned,[46] being shorter in length and lower in height than originally intended.[47]
Repairs and building work continued sporadically into the 15th century, with, for instance, a new aisle being installed in the middle of the church in 1422.[45] Little else is known of Abbey's history until the 16th century.[41]
Relations with tenantry
No woman was able to marry outside the manor or outside her conditions of bondage without permission and a charge; when a woman became pregnant she had to make a payment to the lord; men and women coud be punished for sins committed or else make a suitable payment; none could work for another without the lord's consent but were required to work for him at his will; the holding and working of land outside the manor was restricted...and, lastly, peasants were not allowed to dispose of their property by means of will or gift as their goods belonged to their lord.[48]
A. J. Bostock and S. M. Hogg
As well as the burden of trying to finish the abbey buildings, Vale Royal faced many other serious problems. From the beginning the monks' relationship with their tenants and neighbours was usually poor and sometimes abysmal.[12][49][note 12] The initial foundation was resented by the people of Darnhall and Over who found themselves under the lordship of the abbey; this made the previously free tenants villeins,[note 13] and in 1275, only a year after the abbey's foundation, tenants of Darnhall attempted to withdraw from paying the abbot customs and services, and continued to feud with various abbots of Vale Royal on the matter with increasing vigour for the next fifty years.[49] The original cause of the dispute was probably over forestry rights. The new abbey was wholly within the boundaries of the forest of Mondrem, which until it was granted to the new house, was mostly common land. But keeping it thus would have effectively prevented the monks from utilising its value, so the abbey was granted immunity from the foresting laws—in which, it is almost certain, the abbey regularly over-reached itself.[16][note 14]
Abbots were not just abbots; they were also feudal lords, and as such should not be assumed to be sympathetic landlords purely on account of their ecclesiastical position, and when their tenants appeared before the abbot's manorial court, they were not appearing before an abbot, but before a judge, and the usual strictures of common law would apply.[56] The monks may have been strict or oppressive landlords and the people responded fiercely against what historian Richard Hilton has labelled a form of "social degradation."[57] If the abbey was as poor as has been assumed, then this may account for the monks having to be extra harsh landlords;[58] they would appear to have undertaken their landlordly duties with zeal,[59] Ultimately though, it is impossible to be certain as to whether the abbey was as locally tyrannous as the villagers claimed. It is also possible that previous earls of Chester had been lax in their enforcement of serfdom, and that the two villages had got used to their relative freedoms. It is also possible that it was the monks who had been too lax in their enforcement, and that the villagers of Darnhall and surrounding areas saw an opportunity to take advantage of them.[60] The villagers prosecuted their struggle in earnest, sometimes going to law, sometimes resorting to violence.[61][48] The people of the area attacked monastic officials on many occasions: In 1320, during the abbacy of Richard of Evesham, one of the monks was attacked (and a servant killed) while collecting tithes in Darnhall,[49] and in 1339, the abbot, Peter, was slain defending his house's prerogatives.[62]
Relations with the gentry were no better and they too often came to blows with the monks. The abbey was involved in feuds with a number of the prominent local families and these frequently ended in large-scale violence.[62] Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries Vale Royal was often beset by scandal of other kinds. Many of the abbots proved to be incompetent, venal, or even criminally inclined;[note 15] the house was frequently grossly mismanaged. As time went on discipline became lax and in the 14th and early 15th century, there was much disorder at the abbey, with reports of serious crimes including attempted murder being committed by Vale Royal monks. Another abbot, Henry Arrowsmith, a man with a reputation for lawlessness, was hacked to death in 1437 by a group of men including the vicar of Over. This abbot was slain in revenge for a rape he was alleged to have committed. The abbey was taken under royal supervision in 1439, but there was no immediate improvement. In the 1450s the scandalous doings of the monks of Vale Royal attracted the attention of the government and even the General Chapter, the international governing body of the Cistercian order. In 1455 they ordered senior abbots to investigate the abbey, which they described as "damnable and sinister". Thereafter things improved somewhat and the last years of Vale Royal were fairly peaceful and well ordered.[8]
In 1509, the Abbot of Dore visited Vale Royal and made a brief inventory of its rooms, including the Abbot's chambers, which were described as holding "a suitable couch, ten coverlets, four mattresses, two feather beds and twelve pairs of linen sheets".[41] The archaeologist S. J. Moorhouse suggests that it is luxuries such as these which demonstrate how far the Cistercian order had come from its original focus on the frugal lifestyle.[41]
Dissolution
In 1535 the abbey was valued in the Valor Ecclesiasticus as having an income of £540, making it the wealthiest of the 13th-century Cistercian establishments, and the fourth-most wealthy overall.[63] This figure meant that Vale Royal escaped being dissolved under the terms of the First Suppression Act, King Henry VIII's initial move in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The last abbot was John Hareware (elected 1535), who had previously been abbot of Hulton Abbey. He pursued a two-pronged policy of attempting to ensure the survival of his abbey and, should that fail, the security of himself and his brethren thereafter. Hareware bribed courtiers, influential nobles and in particular chief minister Thomas Cromwell with money and property in an attempt to gain a respite for his Abbey. He also leased out most of the abbey lands to friends and associates of the monastery to keep them out of royal hands should the abbey fall (many of these leases had a clause which stated that they should be void if the abbey survived). He began to realise the other assets such as livestock and timber for cash.[8]
The process of dissolution at Vale Royal was begun in September 1538 by Thomas Holcroft, one of the king's commissioners,[8] who was ordered to "take and recyve" the abbey.[64] The situation became complicated almost immediately. Holcroft—probably by way of a forged signature on the deed of exchange[65]—claimed that the abbey had surrendered to him on 7 September. The abbot and convent strongly denied that they had done so and questioned Holcroft's authority. To defend himself, Holcroft then alleged that the abbot had attempted to take over the abbey for himself and had tried to conspire with Holcroft to engage in land fraud involving the abbey estates.[8] The Vale Royal monks petitioned the government, in particular, Thomas Cromwell who, in his role as Vicar General was in charge of church affairs under the Royal Supremacy. Abbot John appealed to Cromwell in person and in the course of his journey to London to see the chief minister wrote to him:
My Good Lord, the truth is, I nor my said brethren have never consented to surrender our monastery not yet do, nor never will by our good wills unless it shall please the King's grace to give us commandment to do so.
In December 1538 Abbot John and his community received a papal dispensation to change habits and temporarily join another order.[65] There must have been some disquiet in governmental circles as to whether the surrender of Vale Royal was, in fact, legitimate, so steps were taken to put the matter beyond doubt. A special court was held at the abbey on 31 March 1539, with Cromwell the judge. However, instead of investigating the circumstances of the surrender,[66] the court charged the abbot with treason and contrivance in the murder of a monk who may, in fact, have committed suicide in 1536.[65] He was also accused of "treasonous utterances" during the Pilgrimage of Grace. These serious crimes that would have earned the death penalty.[note 16] The abbot was found guilty, and Vale Royal was declared forfeit to the crown because of his crimes.[66] Abbot John was not executed. Instead, he was given the substantial pension of £60 per year and the abbey's plate, indicating that the trial was a method of putting pressure on him to acquiesce to the wishes of Cromwell and Holcroft regarding the fate of his monastery.[8][66] The rest of the community were also pensioned off. Pension records indicate that Abbot John lived until at least 1546.[8]
Later history
Notwithstanding the protracted negotiations it had taken[64] Thomas Holcroft was now in charge at Vale Royal. Previously an obscure member of the Cheshire lower gentry, his purchase of Vale Royal made him a man of substance and enabled him to found his own line.[68] In 1539 he demolished the church, telling King Henry in a letter that it was "plucked down".[31][note 17] On 7 March 1544 the king confirmed Holcroft's ownership by granting him the abbey and a lot of its estates for the sum of £450.[31][70] Holcroft then took down many of the abbey's domestic buildings, retaining the south and west cloister ranges including the abbot's house and the monks' dining hall along with their kitchen as the core of his very large mansion on the site,[31] which was centred over the abbey's claustral foundations.[64]
Holcroft's heirs lived at Vale Royal until 1615, when the abbey came into the hands of the Cholmondeley family (subsequently Lords Delamere).[71] The widowed Lady Mary Cholmondeley (1562–1625), a powerful woman with extensive properties in the area, bought the abbey as a home for herself when her eldest son inherited the primary family estates at Cholmondeley. In August 1617 she entertained James I to a stag hunting party at Vale Royal.[66] The king enjoyed himself so much that he gave knighthoods to two members of the family. Shortly afterwards, in a letter, he offered to advance the political careers of Lady Mary's sons if they would come to court. This offer was so firmly refused that the king named her "the Bolde Lady of Cheshire".[72] At her death in 1625 Lady Mary passed the abbey and estate on to her fourth son, Thomas, who founded the Vale Royal branch of the family.[73]
During the English Civil War the Cholmondeleys were supporters of Charles I.[73] Their allegiance had serious consequences: there was fighting at Vale Royal, the abbey was extensively looted and the south wing of the building burned down by Parliamentarian forces under the command of General John Lambert.[74]
Following this disaster, the Cholmondeley family continued to live in the abbey. In 1833 a new southeast wing, designed by Edward Blore, was added to the building. In 1860, Hugh Cholmondeley, 2nd Baron Delamere, commissioned the Chester architect John Douglas to recast the centre of the south range, which had formerly been timber-framed. The following year Douglas added a southwest wing, and in so doing, altered the dining room.[75] Opposite the west lodge of the abbey stands the church of St Mary, the capella extra portis (chapel without the gates) of the abbey. This had been largely rebuilt in 1728, incorporating fabric from a timber-framed church dating probably from the 14th century. In 1874–75 Douglas re-modelled the church, changing its external appearance, but again retaining much of the internal fabric.[76]
The Cholmondeley family lived in the abbey until 1907, when Vale Royal was rented out to Robert Dempster, a wealthy businessman from Manchester.[77] Robert Dempster had made his fortune from the gas engineering company he founded, R & J Dempster and Sons in 1883. In that year his second daughter Edith was born but he was never to have sons. Edith continued to live at Vale Royal with her father until his death in 1925 in South Africa. He was buried at Whitegate Church close to Vale Royal. Edith inherited half of his fortune and all of his personal effects, including the lease on Vale Royal. In the spring of 1926, Edith married a long-time suitor Frank Pretty, again at Whitegate Church. She gave up the lease on Vale Royal and purchased the relatively modest Sutton Hoo estate later that year. Frank died at the end of 1934 and in 1939 Edith Pretty engaged a 'jobbing' archaeologist Basil Brown to excavate some of the mounds on the Sutton Hoo estate, discovering the richest Anglo-Saxon burial in Northern Europe.[78]
In 1934, another Cholmondeley, Thomas, Baron Delamere, moved into the abbey, only to be forced out in 1939 when the government took over Vale Royal to serve as a sanatorium for soldiers of World War II.[77] The Cholmondeleys regained possession of the abbey after the war, but in 1947 they sold it, at which point Vale Royal began to experience many vicissitudes.[79]
Vale Royal was purchased by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1947.[77] The chemical company initially used the abbey as staff accommodation and then, from 1954 to 1961, as the headquarters for its Salt[39] and Alkali Division[80] During ICI's tenure, they permitted—and assisted with labour and facilities—a new archaeological excavation in 1958 to complete that of 1911–1912.[25]
ICI moved out in 1961, and for some years the future of Vale Royal was in doubt. There were abortive schemes to use the abbey as a health centre, a country club, a school and a prison. In 1977, the abbey was made into a residential care home for people with learning difficulties.[80] Since 1998, Vale Royal has been home to a private golf club.[81] A proposal to turn the house into flats led to the detailed archaeological study of 1998 carried out by the Chester Archaeological Society.[69]
Remains
Nothing remains of the great church and "virtually nothing"[82] of any other of the ecclesiastical buildings, though archaeological work has revealed many details of its structure.[1] According to Emery, "detailed examination of the roof...has revealed hidden structural evidence beneath layers of post-medieval changes".[82] Excavations by the Manchester architect Basil Pendleton took place 1911–1912,[26] which he focussd arounfd the Nun's Grave. He established that the church had been 421 feet (128 m) long, with a decoratively floored 92-foot (28 m) nave. The width of the east and west transepts together was 232 feet (71 m).[16] The rest of the construction was, at various times in its career, built around a grassed quadrangle (possibly also serving as a herb garden), 140 feet (43 m) square. These consisted, apart from the church (which took up the east side of the square), of a chapter house,[note 18] the abbot's dwelling, accommodation for guests, and various outbuildings necessary for the domestic upkeep of the community and its agricultural work.[85]
Much of the Abbey's stonework had been sold by Holcroft on its destruction.[39] Some was used to build a common well,[64] and at least one domestic garden in Northwich was found possessed of original carvings and bosses,[86] and stones from the Abbey were found in the walls of three other houses.[64] Holcroft had also rebuilt the western grange with stone form the church for his own use.[33] The south wing of the extant building at Vale Royal incorporates the original refectory roof, which has been dendrochronologically dated to the latter half of the 15th century. It consisted, says Emery, "of a timber-framed three-bay hall, open to the roof, flanked by a pair of single bay rooms, the whole set above a masonry ground floor".[82] Further excavation took place in 1958 and uncovered the 1359 additions, including detail such as the chevets.[26] Also discovered were pieces of stained glass, Purbeck marble and other architectural fragments.[33]
The historian Jeffrey Denton has suggested that the reason Vale Royal Abbey is relatively undiscussed in scholarship is the direct result of Holcroft's "plucking" in the mid-16th century, and that "had it survived, our views of Edward I's relations with the Church may well have been radically different."[87] A circular stone monument, known as the 'Nun's Grave', traditionally commemorates a 14th-century Cheshire nun, Ida, who tended an unnamed sick Vale Royal abbot, and on her death was buried at the site of the high altar.[16] The monument was erected by the Cholmondeley family, possibly to lend credence to the legend of the nun. The material in its construction comes from three sources: the head made from a medieval cross with four panels depicting the Crucifixion, the Virgin and Child, St. Catherine, and St. Nicholas; the shaft, made of sandstone in the 17th century; and a plinth made from reclaimed abbey masonry.[88] The present country house on the site incorporates parts of the south and west ranges;[89] the former has a door arch from the abbey, one of the few elements of the original abbey still visible.[39] Holcroft's Tudor house is also well-represented. The building is a Grade II* listed building,[3] and St Mary's church is listed at Grade II.[89]
Notes
- ^ The chronicler describes the train of events in some detail: "while [Edward] was on his way to England, accompanied by a great concourse of people, storms suddenly arose at sea, the ship's rigging was all torn to pieces in a moment, and the crew were helpless and unable to do anything. Utterly despairing of their safety, the sailors called loudly upon the Lord...[Edward] most humbly vowed to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary that, if God would save him and his people and goods, and bring them safe to land, he would forthwith found a monastery of white monks of the Cistercian order in honour of Mary the Mother of God...for the maintenance of one hundred monks for ever. And behold, the power of God to save His people was forthwith made manifest; for scarce had the most Christian prince finished speaking when the tempest was utterly dispersed and succeeded by a calm, so that all marvelled at so sudden a change. Thus the ship...was miraculously borne to land by the Virgin Mary, in whose honour the prince had made his vow, without any human aid whatsoever...until they had all carried their goods safe out of the ship, the prince remained behind them in the ship, but as soon as the ship was empty, he left it and went on shore; and as he left, in the twinkling of an eye, the ship broke into two pieces."[4]
- ^ Sir James Ramsay was even more specific, dating the particular crossing involved to between Christmas and New Years, 1263, when he sailed from Calais to Dover ahead of his father, who is known to have travelled on 2 January 1264[7]
- ^ It has also been suggested that the original site was uncomfortably distant from a freshwater source sufficient to provide for a large community: Darnhall was on the bank of the Ash Brook, but this was a minor waterway. Whereas Vale Royal was sited next to the River Weaver, which had two equally powerful feeder rivers nearby.[13]
- ^ Alphonso was King Edward's and Eleanor of Castile eighth child but, by 1277, their only surviving son; he was, therefore, at this time, heir to the throne.[14]
- ^ This retinue included the Earls of Gloucester, Cornwall, Surrey, and Warwick, Maurice de Craon, Otto de Grandson and Robert de Vere[8]
- ^ This was specifically wool that the Abbey gathered from outside its own estate, such as local farms. The distinction was, to merchants, an important one, as it was often felt that the only wool that could be relied on in quality was that produced by the institution itself.[19] The historian T. H. Lloyd has described the process at Darnhall Abbey, in 1275, when the monks contracted "to supply 12 sacks of Herefordshire collecta as good as the better collecta of Dore Abbey. The wool was to be dressed at Hereford by a man sent and probably paid, by the merchant, but the abbey was to find his board while he engaged in the work. The price of this wool was only 9 marks a sack, including delivery to London".[20]
- ^ Hospitality was a primary duty for those under Benedictine rule, such as the Cistercians, for St Benedict instructed "let all guests be received as Christ himself".[22] Yet, "the cost of entertaining guests on ceremonial occasions hosted by the community was considerable."[23]
- ^ Walter de Hereford received 2 shillings a day wages, which the Victoria County History suggests was equivalent to around £700 per annum in 1980 prices.[30]
- ^ As the Vale royal site was so isolation, these dwelling houses were for the workers as well as for the monks.[29]
- ^ The abbey had experienced financial problems since its foundation, and although it had been granted a licence in 1275 to sell wool to pay for its building works, seven years' later the abbey owed £172 to merchants, By 1311, £200 was still owed to one of the custodians of the works from 1284.[8]
- ^ This became a common practice from the 14th century onwards. It was a convenient device for alleviating a religious house of its debts: The reign of Edward III, notes historian F. R. Lewis, saw 539 such instances.[42]
- ^ The extent to which this concerned the monks-particularly in the early years-has been questioned. Cistercians, it has been noted, "were not normally too bothered by that as they had a reputation as de-populators and often uprooted whole communities."[17]
- ^ In the early-medieval period, villeins were serfs who were tied to the land they worked, and as bonded tenants, they could not leave or stop working that land without the agreement of the lord of the manor. By the late 14th century the role had ceased being as burdensome as it would have been a couple of hundred years earlier, with no heavy labouring service enforced. But it was still possible (and Vale Royal Abbey was party to this) for a lord to insist on receiving a third of a tenant's goods on the latter's death.[50] Also, not being freemen, villeins did not have recourse to trial by jury.[51][52][53] Even so: "despite the light labour services associated with villein tenure, there is no doubt that the personal and financial liabilities could weigh heavily."[54] One particular service the villages of both Darnhall and Over were contracted for was that when a daughter married, "redemption" had to be paid to the abbey.[55]
- ^ This involved the right to clear forest land for agricultural purposes, and to remove timber and branches.[48]
- ^ For example, Abbot Stephen (in office 1373-c. 1400) was involved in violent fighting with the Bulkeley family of Cheadle in 1375; in 1394, he gave sanctuary to a convicted murderer; he was regularly accused of preventing the arrest or prosecution of his own monks; he took bribes to allow prisoners to escape; he illegally felled forestry and profited from it; and in 1395 a commission discovered that he had spent the previous decade greatly impoverishing the abbey by selling, alienating, and generally destroying its estates. Further, during his abbacy, two of his own monks were accused respectively of theft and of rape.[8]
- ^ The Abbot was accused of condoning the murder of one Brother Hugh Chalner. Chalner, claimed the prosecution, had told his 12-year-old nephew that he was leaving the abbey to join the boy's father in Chester. It was also claimed that, for some reason, Chalner feared for his life in Vale Royal. The next day Chalner was found dead, his throat cut.[67]
- ^ Says Greene, "The Tudor purchasers of dissolved monasteries were often looking for buildings that would form the basis of a country house surrounded by a ready-made estate."[69] Holcroft was something of an exception to this rule in Cheshire, however, as most unlike the rest of the country, most of the ecclesiastical land there either remained in the hands of the crown or went towards the creation of the recently created Diocese of Chester.[68]
- ^ The Chapter house has been described as "a place second in importance to the church itself," and was where the main business of the abbey took place, both religious (being where the monks read chapters of St Benedict's teachings, giving the building its name, and, peculiar to this order, Cistercian monks made public confession to each other here)[83] and especially administrative[84] (the manorial court was held there, for example).[17]
See also
- List of Abbots of Vale Royal
- Grade II* listed buildings in Cheshire West and Chester
- Listed buildings in Whitegate and Marton
- List of houses and associated buildings by John Douglas
- Round Tower Lodge, Sandiway
References
- ^ a b Historic England & 72883.
- ^ Historic England & 1016862.
- ^ a b Historic England & 1160862.
- ^ a b Brownbill 1914, pp. v–x.
- ^ Prestwich 2004.
- ^ a b Denton 1992, p. 124.
- ^ Ramsay 1908, p. 210.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u VCH 1980, pp. 156–165.
- ^ a b c d Turner & McNeil-Sale 1988, p. 53.
- ^ a b c d e Robinson et al. 1998, p. 192.
- ^ Williams 1976, p. 14.
- ^ a b Brownbill 1914, p. vi.
- ^ a b c d e f Bostock & Hogg 1999, p. 1.
- ^ Prestwich 1988, p. 126.
- ^ Powicke 1991, p. 412.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Bostock & Hogg 1999, p. 2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bostock & Hogg 1999, p. 3.
- ^ Denton 1992, p. 131.
- ^ Bell, Brooks & Dryburgh 2007, p. 51.
- ^ Lloyd 1977, p. 296.
- ^ Bell, Brooks & Dryburgh 2007, p. 28.
- ^ Kerr 2008, p. 25.
- ^ Kerr 2007, p. 188.
- ^ Donnelly 1954, p. 443.
- ^ a b Thompson 1962, p. 183.
- ^ a b c d Steane 1993, p. 164.
- ^ Palliser 2004, p. 5.
- ^ Denton 1992, pp. 123–124.
- ^ a b c Greene 1992, p. 71.
- ^ a b VCH 1980, p. 192.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Robinson et al. 1998, p. 193.
- ^ Steane 1993, p. 50.
- ^ a b c d Turner & McNeil-Sale 1988, p. 52.
- ^ Greene 1992, p. 70.
- ^ Greene 1992, p. 95.
- ^ Platt 1994, p. 65.
- ^ a b Palliser 2004, p. 6.
- ^ Prestwich 2003, p. 35.
- ^ a b c d e f Thompson 1962, p. 184.
- ^ a b Emery 2000, p. 472.
- ^ a b c d Turner & McNeil-Sale 1988, p. 54.
- ^ Lewis 1938, pp. 24–25.
- ^ Lewis 1938, p. 25.
- ^ Colvin 1963, p. 256.
- ^ a b c Midmer 1979, p. 315.
- ^ VCH 1980, pp. 1156–165.
- ^ Thompson 1962, p. 185.
- ^ a b c Bostock & Hogg 1999, p. 5.
- ^ a b c Hewitt 1929, p. 166.
- ^ Bennett 1983, p. 92.
- ^ Harding 1993, pp. 74–76.
- ^ Faith 1999, pp. 245–265.
- ^ Hatcher 1987, pp. 247–284.
- ^ Booth 1981, pp. 4–5.
- ^ CCC 1967, p. 89.
- ^ Hewitt 1929, p. 168.
- ^ Hilton 1949, p. 128.
- ^ Firth-Green 1999, p. 166.
- ^ Morgan 1987, p. 77.
- ^ Brownbill 1914, p. 186.
- ^ Hilton 1949, p. 161.
- ^ a b Heale 2016, p. 260.
- ^ Denton 1992, p. 129.
- ^ a b c d e Guinn-Chipman 2013, p. 30.
- ^ a b c Guinn-Chipman 2013, p. 17.
- ^ a b c d Holland et al. 1977, p. 19.
- ^ Guinn-Chipman 2013, pp. 17–18.
- ^ a b Phillips & Smith 1994, p. 21.
- ^ a b Greene 1992, p. 191.
- ^ Holland et al. 1977, p. 37.
- ^ Holland et al. 1977, p. 20.
- ^ Holland et al. 1977, p. 21.
- ^ a b Holland et al. 1977, p. 22.
- ^ Holland et al. 1977, p. 23.
- ^ Hubbard 1991, p. 40.
- ^ Hubbard 1991, p. 124.
- ^ a b c Holland et al. 1977, p. 32.
- ^ Hopkirk 1975, pp. xxxvi–xxxviii.
- ^ Holland et al. 1977, pp. 25, 32.
- ^ a b Holland et al. 1977, p. 25.
- ^ VRA 2008.
- ^ a b c Emery 2000, p. 42.
- ^ Stalley 1999, p. 188.
- ^ Hamlett 2013, p. 117.
- ^ Bostock & Hogg 1999, p. 4.
- ^ Turner & McNeil-Sale 1988, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Denton 1992, p. 124.
- ^ Latham 1993, p. 127.
- ^ a b Historic England & 1160911.
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- Historic England, "Church of St Mary, Whitegate and Marton (1160911)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 5 September 2012
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(help) - Phillips, C. B.; Smith, J. H. (1994). Lancashire and Cheshire from AD1540. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-31787-167-5.
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(help) - Powicke, F. M. (1991). The Thirteenth Century, 1216–1307 (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19285-249-6.
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(help) - Prestwich, M. (1988). Edward I. Yale English Monarchs. London: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-52006-266-5.
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(help) - Prestwich, M. (2003). The Three Edwards: War and State in England 1272–1377. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-13441-311-9.
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(help) - Prestwich, M. (2004). "Edward I (1239–1307)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 11 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
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suggested) (help) - Ramsay, J. H. (1908). The Dawn of the Constitution: Or, the Reigns of Henry III and Edward I (A.D. 1216-137). London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 499117200.
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(help) - Robinson, David; Burton, Janet; Coldstream, Nicola; Coppack, Glyn; Fawcett, Richard (1998). The Cistercian Abbeys of Britain. London: Batsford. ISBN 978-0-71348-392-5.
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(help) - Stalley, R. A. (1999). Early Medieval Architecture. Oxford History of Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19284-223-7.
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(help) - Steane, J. (1993). The Archaeology of the Medieval English Monarchy. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-13464-159-8.
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(help) - Thompson, F. (1962). "Excavations at the Cistercian Abbey of Vale Royal, Cheshire, 1958". The Antiquaries Journal. 42: 183–207. OCLC 759094243.
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(help) - Turner, R. C; McNeil-Sale, R. (1988). "An architectural and topographical study of Vale Royal Abbey". Journal of the Chester Archaeological Society. 70: 51–79. OCLC 899973718.
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(help) - VCH (1980). Elrington, C. R.; Harris, B. E. (eds.). Houses of Cistercian monks: The abbey of Vale Royal. Victoria County History. Vol. 3. London: University of London & History of Parliament Trust. ISBN 978-0-19722-754-1.
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(help) - VRA, ed. (2008). "Vale Royal Abbey Golf Club".
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(help) - Williams, D. H. (1976). White Monks in Gwent and the Border. Pontypool: Hughes and Son. ISBN 978-0-95004-906-9.
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External links
- Information on the abbey from the Sheffield University site about Cistercian abbeys in the UK
- The Ledger Book of Vale Royal abbey: the main record book of the abbey. First published by the Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1914 – full-text version as part of British History Online
- Information about the stained glass from the Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA) of Great Britain