More information : [Area TF 299609] Site of Revesby Abbey [G.T.]
(Cistercian Founded AD 1142)
[TF 29906079] High Altar [G.T.] (Site of)
[TF 29876108] Causeway [G.T.]
[TF 29996085] Fish Ponds [G.T.] (1)
[TF 29916061 and TF 29993089] Human Remains found [T.I.] (2)
The Cistercian Abbey of Revesby was founded in 1142, and dissolved about 1539. The exact date of surrender is not known, but in 1538 the house was in "great ruin and decay. The white object on the air photograph (5) see AO/LP/63/118 is a tomb before the high altar.
Partial excavation in 1869 revealed a little of the church and cloister.
The square enclosure to the south-west [TF 29686068] is probably that of a post Dissolution house.
Four mounds [TF 29666080; TF 29896064; TF 39046067; TF 30056103] for defence? (6). (3-9)
In 1870, 6 tombs were discovered with skeletons of monks, also 12 skeletons in rows. Original tiles from the Abbey site are kept in Revesby Church. (10)
The site of the high altar, marked by a 19th century burial with inscribed slab, is at TF 29926081.
To the SW a concentration of grassed over banks indicates the main building layout and this is central to a considerable area of associated earthworks, principally moat-type ditches and fishponds. The four mounds all survive but their original purpose could not be established.
Surveyed at 1/2500. (11)
TF 298 608. Revesby Abbey. Scheduled no. LI/252. (12)
The earthworks of the Cistercian Abbey, referred to by Authority 11 centred at TF 2992 6081, lie at the centre of a ditched enclosure or precinct, the ditch being visible on the south and south-east. The actual church building is indistinct, but a cloister garth to its south-west, at TF 2984 6078, and a building range to the south are clearly defined (a). Other possible buildings may lie on the east. Three large oblong fishponds lie in the north-east of the precinct at TF 2995 6090. The enclosure is approached by a causeway from the north, which was seen as earthwork and cropmarks. Adjacent to the west side of the precinct at TF 2968 6067 are two conjoined moated enclosures which may be of slightly later date. The northern enclosure is asymmetric in plan, 100m by 60m; the southerly enclosure is rectangular, 80m by 70m, and has another internal moat, echoing it in shape, which measures 35m by 30m. Meadows with a regular system of water channels lie outside the precinct, principally to the south, but also on the north, and were seen as earthworks and cropmarks. The mounds referred to by the previous Authorities were also recorded; their function is unknown. (Morph No. LI.459.1.1-8)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (13) |