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LANERCOST PRIORY

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The now partly ruined Lanercost Priory was founded circa 1166 by Robert de Vaux. Edward I visited the priory on three occasions in 1280, 1300, and again in 1306-7 when he was taken ill and remained for six months until his recovery. In between Edward's earlier visits the Scots ransacked the priory in 1296 when they burned the cloister. No sooner had the damage been repaired than it was destroyed again the following year by Scots under the leadership of William Wallace. Documentary sources indicate considerable building work was undertaken at the priory during Edward's convalescence when the royal entourage of up to 200 people had to be accommodated. In 1346 King David II of Scotland ransacked the buildings and desecrated the church. The priory was rebuilt but many of the estates had to be sold to meet the costs of this work. Lanercost Priory was dissolved in 1537 under the orders of Henry VIII and the buildings were granted to Sir Thomas Dacre who made alterations and converted some of the monastic buildings, including Dacre Hall, into a dwelling house by 1559. The north aisle of the church was shut off from the rest and used as a parish church, while a parsonage was built for the vicar to the west of the 13th century tower. The remainder of the monastic buildings were allowed to fall into decay. In 1716 the ruins of the priory passed to the crown upon the death of the Lanercost Dacres. About 1740 it was decided to enlarge the space used by the parish church by restoring the nave. In 1896 the priory was purchased by the Earl of Carlisle. Throughout the 20th century various parts of the priory have been placed in the guardianship of the Secretary of State.

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(NY 556 637) (Remains of) Lanercost Priory (GT)
(Augustinian founded AD 1165)
Tower (GT)
Gateway (GT)
Cross (GT) (Remains of)
Bridge (GT) (Remains of)
Cist & urn found AD 1895
Cist found AD 1889 (1)

An Augustinian house founded AD 1165-9 and dissolved 1537. The buildings are almost entirely of the early 13thc. The remains consist of the quire and transepts, the sub-vault of the refectory and parts of the other claustral buildings and of the gatehouse. At the Dissolution the nave of the church was preserved for the parish and is still in use; the rest was dismantled. Part of the monastic buildings were converted into a residence about 1536. A tower of Edwardian date now forms part of the vicarage. The base of a cross in the open space north of the west front marks the site of a privileged market or fair held in the precinct. The remains of the mediaeval gatehouse now give access to the church. (2-4)

Built almost entirely of red and grey stones from the Wall. In the cellarium and surrounds there is a collection of Ro. Altars, incribed stones taken from the Wall. (5)

Bridge (?) east of present Lanercost Bridge - Listed only. (6)

Cist with urn, though to be RB, found 1895 on Lanercost Priory green. The bones were not human.(7)

Circa 1889, three human burials and skeletons of 2 horses were found during extensions to the farm dairy, W of the Priory. A cist is reported, but no detailed examination at the time of the finds was allowed, and therefore details are rather vague (8).

The nave of the Priory church is still in normal use, while the ruined parts are in the care of the D of E, which has recovered the ground plan of further conventual buildings by excavation. The much-modernised Edwardian tower still forms part of the vicarage. The remains of the market cross consist of a socket stone 0.7m x 0.6m x 0.6m high holding a fragment of the shaft, 0.2m x 0.4m in section and 0.5m high. The socket stone is set on a calvary of at least four well-worn steps, evident on the W side only, the remainder being turf-covered. See photograph. A collection of seven Ro altars and five other sculptured and inscribed stones are only display in the cellarium. Of the bridge, the remains consist of what appears to have been the N abutment and a supporting pier. The former is a turf-covered mound with traces of masonry visible; while the latter, now standing in mid-stream owing to a drastic change of course by the river in recent years, is a massive block of masonry, largely without facing stones, the dimensions of which could not be detmined owing to its situation. Embedded in the N river bank at NY 55636343 are numerous ashlar blocks bearing Md masons' marks, which probably represent tumble from the bridge. (9)

Lanercost Priory was founded circa 1166 by Robert de Vaux. Edward I visited the priory on three occasions in 1280, 1300, and again in 1306-7 when he was taken ill and remained for six months until his recovery. In between Edward's earlier visits the Scots ransacked the priory in 1296 when they burned the cloister. No sooner had the damage been repaired than it was destroyed again the following year by Scots under the leadership of William Wallace. Documentary sources indicate considerable building work was undertaken at the priory during Edward's convalescence when the royal entourage of up to 200 people had to be accommodated. In 1346 King David II of Scotland ransacked the buildings and desecrated the church. The priory was rebuilt but many of the estates had to be sold to meet the costs of this work. Lanercost Priory was dissolved in 1537 under the orders of Henry VIII and the buildings were granted to Sir Thomas Dacre who made alterations and converted some of the monastic buildings, including Dacre Hall, into a dwelling house by 1559. The north aisle of the church was shut off from the rest and used as a parish church, while a parsonage was built for the vicar to the west of the 13th century tower. The remainder of the monastic buildings were allowed to fall into decay. In 1716 the ruins of the priory passed to the crown upon the death of the Lanercost Dacres. About 1740 it was decided to enlarge the space used by the parish church by restoring the nave. In 1896 the priory was purchased by the Earl of Carlisle. Throughout the 20th century various parts of the priory have been placed in the guardianship of the Secretary of State. (10)

Listed. (11)

Detailed survey of the Priory and description. (12)

Conservation Plan commissioned by the Priory Partnership. (13)

Excavations in 1994 adjacent to the north side of the sanctuary found no evidence of any external foundations. (14)

few fragments remain of the 13th century cloister, but those that do sugest a structure of unusual design and some magnificence. (15)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1957

( 2) by David Knowles and R Neville Hadcock 1953 Medieval religious houses : England and Wales

Page(s)142

( 3) General reference

Ancient Monuments Guide North England 1955 (MOW) Page(s)35

( 4) by David Knowles and J K S St. Joseph 1952 Monastic sites from the air

Cambridge air surveys Page(s)192

( 5) J Collingwood Bruce; edited by Sir Ian Richmond 1966 Handbook to the Roman Wall

Page(s)179

( 6) Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society

(W G Collingwood) 23, 1923 Page(s)210

( 7) Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society

14, 1897 Page(s)195

( 8) Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society

11, 1891 Page(s)70

( 9) Field Investigators Comments

F1 DS 07-DEC-71

(10) Scheduled Monument Notification

06-SEP-1994

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

Page(s)162

(12) Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society research series

Summerson H and Harrison S, 2000. Lanercost Priory, Cumbria. A Survey and Documentary History 10, 2000 Page(s)1-219

(13) General reference

Caroe and Partners, 2001. Lanercost Priory, Cumbria. A Conservation Plan

(14) Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian & Archaeological Society

Whitworth AM 98, 1998 Page(s)133-44

(15) Journal of the British Archaeological Association

Harrison, Stuart 159, 2006 Page(s)121-4

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