Calder Abbey in Cumbria was a Savigniac monastery founded in 1134 by Ranulph de Gernon, 2nd Earl of Chester, and moved to this site following a refoundation in 1142.

Ranulf de Gernon (also known as Ranulph le Meschines) founded the abbey on 10 January 1134, and gave a site and a mill to the monks.

Only four years later, in the midst of the political instability following the death of Henry I, David King of Scots sent Scottish raiders under William Fitz Duncan to raid the northern English counties.

In 1535 an unfavourable report was made against the abbey and its community by the King's commissioners (though their views are often suspected to be biased and dubiously motivated).

At the Dissolution Henry VIII gave the abbey to Sir Thomas Leigh, who pulled off the roof and sold it and anything else he could and reduced the church to a ruin.

Parts of the south and east ranges of the claustral buildings were incorporated into Calder Abbey House, now a largely early-nineteenth century structure that is still a private residence.

[3] Other parts of the abbey remain as a picturesque ruin, no doubt retained by early residents of the newly formed mansion as an ornamental feature.

Over 2,000 people attended a celebration led by Dr Thomas Wulstan Pearson, OSB, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Lancaster.

[2] To the south of the chapter house was the slype, a passage to the cemetery, and then the plan becomes more confused but likely included a day room where the monks worked.