Louth Park Abbey
[2] The original abbey charter was transcribed into Priory Book of Alvingham and reads, in part: Alexander, by the grace of God, bishop to all his successors sendeth greetings...
I, by the counsaile of my clergie and assent of my whole chapter of the churche of Saynte Marie at Linkholne, am disposed to found an abbey of mookes of St, Marie, of the Fountaynes, accordinge to the order of the blessed St. Benedict and custoomes of (Cistercians) in my woode, namely, in my Parke on the south syde of my towne called Lowthe, which parke I have graunted wholie and free from all terrene service..."[2]The first monks to settle at the abbey site were headed by Abbot Gervase of Louth.
[3] The river was used by the abbey to turn the wheel of the grain mill that had been given to them by Alexander of Lincoln 'to ever more to possess', but was too distant for general water needs, or to supply their fishponds.
[6] Building at the east side of the Cloister Court, including a Chapter-house and Calefactory, were built around 1246, during the time of Abbot Richard of Dunholm,[2] who raised the house "from dust and ashes".
[7] Around this time, the Abbot, Walter de Louth, was summoned to Cockerington by Sir Henry le Vavasour, who was in failing health, to hear his confession.
[9] But this endowment, 'instead of proving a relief to the monks in their embarrassments, only brought about further litigation'[7] and was remembered in the abbey chronicles as an event that led the Abbot to endure 'great harassment' before he died.
[7] By the time the endowment was revealed the monks had taken possession of Cockerington manor, and Constance began a series of public claims about the validity of the gift,[10] including that her husband had not been 'of sound mind', or even deceased,[9] when he was said to have affixed his seal to the deed.
[7] Her claims were examined at an inquisition, where an important witness was le Vavasour's servant Alice, who testified that not only was Constance present in the room but that she had handed her husband the seal.
[2] Sir Water de Abbetoft gave the monks some his woods at Birley, in Brampton, Derbyshire, with rights to ironstone, and beech and elm for fuel, a bloomery, or iron smelting furnace, and a forge.
[7] One of the monks, William Moreland, alias Borroby,[13] or Borrowby, later recalled that, at first, 'they lived for a while as near as they might to their old monastery', only venturing out to attend church in Louth or talk with one another.
[6] Featuring rolls, hollows and Dog-tooth decoration, and dating to the Early English Period of the 12th century, it is believed to have originally been part of the abbey.
[6] In 1873, the owner of the abbey site, Mr. W. Allison, 'disinterred' the ruins, finding the stone coffins of two former abbots buried in the chapter house and 'many other relics of great interest'.
[23] In the 1880s, 'curious bases and capitals of columns' were found in the walls of the local manor house and, while possibly belonging to the third church, were also considered, because of 'their enormous proportions and design' to have come from the abbey.
[23] A heavy stone block, beneath a window, in St. Andrew's church, Stewton, is thought to be a keystone of a rib-vault from the ruins of either the abbey or Legbourne Priory.
[24] The surviving remains on the site today comprise extensive earthworks, and, of the church, the ruined north and south chancel walls, and the base of a nave pillar.
