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LILLESHALL ABBEY

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

ABBEY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY

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The ruined, earthwork and buried remains of Lilleshall Abbey. The religious order was originally founded in 1143 moved to Lilleshall in 1148. Lilleshall Abbey was founded by Richard de Belmeis for canons of the Augustinian Order of Aras. The church was built in the 12th and 13th centuries, and its size and magnificence indicates it had wealthy and influential benefactors; Henry III visited twice in circa 1240. The abbey's income came from a variety of sources: gifts, legacies, farmland, watermills, property investments, and tolls over the Atcham Bridge on the River Severn.

The east and south ranges of the claustral buildings containing the sacristy and chapter house, the refectory, kitchen and warming room, and were built in the 12th century. The west range containing the abbot's hall and chamber and the outer parlour was built in the 14th century. A financial crisis in the early 14th century led to a reduction in the number of canons, and when the abbey was dissolved in 1538 by Henry VIII there were only nine canons and 43 servants. The abbey was later converted into a house by Sir Richard Leveson. This was fortified during the Civil War by a Royalist garrison, and besieged by Parliamentary forces in 1645 who caused much damage to the church. The abbey was then left to ruin, and in the late 18th century a canal was cut through the precinct.

The remains of the abbey include the ruined crossing, transepts, chapels either side of the chancel, west tower, nave and presbytery of the church and a fine example of a Transitional Norman doorway. The claustral buildings were arranged to the south and include the ruins of the vestry, cloisters, chapter house and frater. There are also traces of the precinct wall to the south, and to the north-west of the precinct are two areas containing earthworks of two fishponds. The abbey is now in the care of English Heritage.

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(SJ 73751418) Remains of Lilleshall Abbey (NR)
(Augustinian Founded circa AD 1143) (1)

For a detailed account of the abbey; buildings and history please see the English Heritage guide book. (2)

A dovecote, two fishponds, a mill within the Abbey and one outside the Abbey are mentioned in a document of 1330. The latter may have been worked by water from the pool near Lilleshall Grange (at SJ733145), (but pool not shown on OS 2" Drawing 1827). The dovecote was uncovered during Walker's excavations (see plan). (3)

Walls and other structures of conventual buildings and probably the perimeter wall were revealed in the laying of a sewage pipe from the South East to the North West corner of the field immediately to the West of the abbey church during October 1971. (4)

As described in authority 2. The Frater is at present undergoing restoration. The lower courses of the precinct wall are visible in the hedgerow from SJ 73511424 to SJ73581431.

A dry fishpond 20.0m by 14.0m was discovered during field investigations at SJ 73861426. Surveyed on Antiquity Trace at 1:2500. There had probably been another pond 25.0m to the west. There are no remains of the `Besieging Trench' shown on Walker's plan (Authy 3).

The remains of the Abbey resurveyed on Antiquity Trace at 1:2500. (5)

Lilleshall. An Augustinian Abbey, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was founded at Lizard c1144 and moved to Lillesham c1148. The net income of the Abbey in 1535 was over £229. When the Abbey was dissolved in 1538 there were eleven canons apart from the abbot. (6)

SJ 737143. Several service trenches on the site of Lilleshall Abbey were examined in 1976 by P J Brown for Department of the Environment. Beyond the east end of the church an inhumation and the precinct wall recorded by CC Walker in 1891 were observed. (7)

SJ 737143. Lilleshall Abbey. Scheduled. (8)

(SJ 73761419) Remains of (NAT) Abbey (NR) (Augustinian) (NAT)
(SJ 73861407) Abbey Well (NR) (9)

The abbey was founded circa 1148 by Richard de Belmeis for Canons of the Augustinian Order of Aras. The building is late Norman to Early English. During the Civil War, the Abbey, which had by then become the house of Sir Richard Leveson, was fortified for the King and practically destroyed in a siege by the Parliamentary forces.

The standing ruins include nearly the whole of the church (about 70m long) including a very fine example of a 12th century Transitional Norman doorway and part of the north wall trefoiled blank arcading; chapels on each side of the chancel and the north and south transept; the vesty; the cloisters; the chapter house (except the east wall) and the frater.
The site was investigated in 1891. (10)

SJ 737 142. Lilleshall Abbey. Scheduled. These sources provide a very detailed description of the abbey buildings and of the abbey's history. Please refer to them for a detailed account and description. (11-12)

Please refer to the abbey guide book for a detailed description. (13)

The extensive remains of an Augustinian abbey which was later used as a Royalist stronghold during the Civil War. Much of the church survives and is viewable from gallery level along with the lavishly decorated processional door and other cloister buildings. (14)

Additional reference. (15)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1954

( 2) S. E. Rigold 1986 Lilleshall Abbey

( 3) General reference

Walker CC 1891 History of Lilleshall Page(s)18-19

( 4) General reference

Shropshire Newsletter 42-MAY-1972 Page(s)3

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 06/08/1975

( 6) by David Knowles and R Neville Hadcock 1971 Medieval religious houses in England and Wales

Page(s)141, 164

( 7) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

21 Page(s)227

( 8) by Department of the Environment, Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings London 1978 List of ancient monuments in England: Volume 1, Northern England; Volume 2, Southern England; Volume 3, East Anglia and the Midlands

3 Page(s)89

( 9) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 1:10000 1982

(10) List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest

The Wrekin 08/04/1983 1126

(11) English Heritage 1995 County list of Scheduled Monuments : March 1994

Shropshire Page(s)26

(12) Scheduled Monument Notification

21/02/1997

(13) Iain Ferris 2000 Haughmond Abbey; Lilleshall Abbey; Moreton Corbet Castle, Shropshire

(14) 2009 English Heritage Visitor Handbook 2009/10

Page(s)182

(15) English Heritage 2006 Heritage Unlocked: Guide to free sites in the Midlands

Page(s)76-7

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