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Furness Abbey, or St Mary of Furness is a former Cistercian monastery
Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
 situated on the outskirts of the Cumbria
Cumbria

Cumbria is a non-metropolitan county in the North West England of England. Cumbria came into existence as a county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
n town, Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness , often known simply as Barrow, is an manufacturing and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England....
.

Founded in 1123 by Stephen, Count of Blois
Stephen of England

Stephen often known as Stephen of Blois was a grandson of William I of England. He was the last Norman dynasty King of England, from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne jure uxoris....
, it was built originally for the Order of Savigny. Located in the 'Valley of the Deadly Nightshade' between Dalton-in-Furness and Barrow-in-Furness, the abbey is built entirely out of local sandstone
Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
.






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Furness Abbey Cumbria Uk
Furness Abbey, or St Mary of Furness is a former Cistercian monastery
Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
 situated on the outskirts of the Cumbria
Cumbria

Cumbria is a non-metropolitan county in the North West England of England. Cumbria came into existence as a county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
n town, Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness

Barrow-in-Furness , often known simply as Barrow, is an manufacturing and seaport which forms about half the territory of the wider Barrow-in-Furness in the county of Cumbria, England....
.

Founded in 1123 by Stephen, Count of Blois
Stephen of England

Stephen often known as Stephen of Blois was a grandson of William I of England. He was the last Norman dynasty King of England, from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne jure uxoris....
, it was built originally for the Order of Savigny. Located in the 'Valley of the Deadly Nightshade' between Dalton-in-Furness and Barrow-in-Furness, the abbey is built entirely out of local sandstone
Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-size mineral or rock Particle size . Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust ....
. It passed in 1147 to the Cistercians, who gradually enlarged and rebuilt the original ornate church. The majority of the current ruins date from the 12th and 13th centuries. By the 15th Century it had been completely re-modelled and had become the second richest and most powerful - as well as one of the grandest - Cistercian Abbeys in the UK, behind Fountains Abbey
Fountains Abbey

Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, England, is a ruined Cistercians monastery, founded in 1132. Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved Cistercian houses in England....
.

The monks of the abbey were large landowners, and the most powerful body in what was then a remote border territory. In particular, they were heavily influential on the Isle of Man
Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of the British Isles....
. One of the kings of Mann and the Isles
Kingdom of Mann and the Isles

The Kingdom of Mann and the Isles was a Norsemen monarchy that existed in the British Isles between 1079 and 1266.The Kingdom had two parts, Sodor , or the South Isles , and Nor?r , or the North Isles ....
 is buried at the abbey, as are many of the Bishops of Sodor and Man
Diocese of Sodor and Man

Sodor and Man is a diocese of the Church of England. Originally much larger, today it covers just the Isle of Man and its adjacent islets.The Norway diocese of Sodor was formed 1154, covering the Hebrides and the other islands along the west coast of Scotland....
. Rushen Abbey
Rushen Abbey

Rushen Abbey was an abbey on the Isle of Man, located near Ballasalla. Originally home for monks of the Congregation of Savigny order, it soon came under Cistercian control and remained so until its dissolution....
 on the Isle was built on land owned by the monks. They also owned mines on the island, and built Piel Castle
Piel Castle

Piel Castle also known as Fouldry Castle, is situated on the south-eastern point of Piel Island, 1 km off the southern tip of the Furness Peninsula, protecting the deep water harbour of Barrow-in-Furness in north west England.....
 to control trade between the Furness Peninsula and the Isle of Man.

At Furness Abbey a tunnel is been said to run underneath the Abbey to both Piel Castle
Piel Castle

Piel Castle also known as Fouldry Castle, is situated on the south-eastern point of Piel Island, 1 km off the southern tip of the Furness Peninsula, protecting the deep water harbour of Barrow-in-Furness in north west England.....
 and Dalton Castle
Dalton Castle

Dalton Castle is a 14th-century peel tower situated in Dalton-in-Furness, Cumbria, England, and in the ownership of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty....
. This was said to be how the monks travelled to and from each monument to receive foodstuffs and keep watch upon the towns. It has also been rumoured that the Holy Grail
Holy Grail

According to Christian mythology, the Holy Grail was the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, said to possess miraculous powers....
 and King John
King John

The Life and Death of King John, a history play by William Shakespeare, dramatises the reign of King John of England , son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine and father of Henry III of England....
’s missing jewels, are actually hidden somewhere inside

Being about 70 miles down the coast from Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
, the monks occasionally found themselves in between the regularly warring Scots and English. When Robert the Bruce invaded England, the abbot paid to lodge and support him, rather than risk the wealth and power of the abbey.

It now lies in ruins and is a popular tourist attraction, lying on the Cistercian Way — an ancient walk popular with tourists, which used to link the Abbey with the nearby town of Dalton-in-Furness
Dalton-in-Furness

Dalton-in-Furness is a small town of approximately 11,000 people north-east of Barrow-in-Furness, in Cumbria, England. Historically, it was the capital of Furness....
. William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth was a major England Romantic poetry poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romanticism in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
 visited on a number of occasions and referred to it in his famous 1805 auto-biographical poem The Prelude
The Prelude

The Prelude; or, Growth of a Poet's Mind is an autobiographical, "philosophical" poem in blank verse by the England poet William Wordsworth....
, whilst Turner
J. M. W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner Royal Academy was an English Romanticism Landscape art, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style is said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism....
 made numerous etchings of the Abbey. Other notable tourists include the Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
 family. It was the first unguided visit on their European tour. A young Teddy Roosevelt and his siblings played on the ruins, which, in 1869, were not roped off or restricted.

There have also been many stories of Furness Abbey being haunted by the a headless monk on horseback and a white lady
White Lady (ghost)

A White Lady is a type of female ghost purported to appear in many rural areas, and who is supposed to have died tragically or suffered trauma in life....
.

Railway Station

Furness Abbey lies right next to the Furness Branch Line, it used to have a station, although the building remains the platform is long gone. Were the Abbey still to have it's train station it would be unlikely that it would be used by the majority of trains, and maybe only used by selected ones, this is because no one lives there and it is a tourist attraction.

See also

  • List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England
    List of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England

    These monastery were dissolved by Henry VIII of England in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The list is by no means exhaustive, since over 800 religious houses existed before the Reformation, and virtually every town of any size had at least one abbey, priory, convent or friary in it, and often many small houses of monks, nuns, canons or friars....
  • Ley tunnel
    Ley tunnel

    Ley tunnels are a common element of the local folklore tradition in the United Kingom and they also occur in Europe. Ley tunnels are said to physically link together such prominent places as country houses, castles, churches, ancient monuments and other, often medieval, buildings....