August 1983. This time we are in Whalley to visit the remains of the abbey that once thrived here.
It was a Cistercian Abbey dating from the end of the 13th century. It was in 1296 that the monks of Stanlow Abbey on the River Mersey moved here. The Stanlow Abbey had been hit by floods and fires and a tower brought down by gales.
Whalley's abbey has an impressive gatehouse, said to be one of the most haunted buildings in England. The abbey church is not in quite as good condition, just foundations can be seen poking through the grass that has been cultivated where the floor of the church once was. There are more substantial remains of the other abbey buildings.
The building of the church and abbey took place from 1296 to 1440. Permission was granted in 1339 for a crenellated surrounding wall to be built around the grounds.
In 1537 it was closed as part of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. The last Abbot, John Paslew, was executed for High Treason, due to his activities in the Pilgrimage of Grace when the North of England rose up against the King's (or more properly Thomas Cromwell's) reforms. In addition the Northerners were angry at the way Queen Catherine of Aragon had been set aside and whilst few may have mourned the beheading of Queen Anne Boleyn on trumped up charges, the exectution of his second queen did Henry no favours with his northern subjects.
The lands of the Abbey were eventually bought back by the Diocese of Manchester in 1923, passing to the Diocese of Blackburn in 1926 and it was used as a centre for religious education there. More recently it has been used as a conference centre.
The monks' washing trough - ooh... luxury!
The octagonal chapter house stood here and there are still some of the original medieval floor tiles in situ.
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