Site details: Basingwerk


Home dershane Project team Project News Future plans Contact us Search the database Browse list of sites Browse list of orders Browse bibliography & archives Browse people Browse articles Glossary of terms Monastic Wales is not responsible for the content of external internet sites	Display site: Basingwerk (Abbey) also known as: Abaty Dinas Basing Order: Cistercian, Savigniac Basingwerk was founded as a Savigniac house by Earl Ranulf II (de Gernon) of Chester and was later incorporated within the Cistercian family. As a border abbey Basingwerk was patronised by both the Welsh and Anglo-Norman nobility. Royal benefactors included Henry II, Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth (d. 1240), Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn (d. 1246) and Edward I.show details of standing remains Standing remains There are twelfth-century remains of the cloister walls and of the east claustral range. However most surviving fabric, including the church and chapter house, dates from the thirteenth century when the buildings were renovated. Much of the area has been excavated and the outlines of the precinct are visible on the turf. Read more. Dedicated to: Virgin Mary Medieval Diocese: St Asaph Affiliated to: Savigny (mother-house); Buildwas (mother-house) Lordship at foundation: Chester Access: Public Owned by: Cadw Main events in the history of this site c.1131: Foundation - The community likely arrived in 1131 but no later than 1132. [2 sources] 1147: Reconstitution - The Order of Savigny joined the Cistercian Order and Basingwerk duly became a Cistercian house. [2 sources] 1157: Relocation - Basingwerk became a dependency of Buildwas and likely moved site at this time. [3 sources] 1188: Visit - Gerald of Wales and Archbishop Baldwin stayed at the house while preaching the Crusade. [1 source] pre 1240: Patronage - The community received Gelli as a gift from Prince Llywelyn ab Iorwerth. [3 sources] 1240: Patronage - Prince Dafydd ap Llywelyn (d. 1246) granted the community the church of Holywell and the shrine chapel of St Winifred. [2 sources] 1253: Concession - The community received permission from the Cistercian General Chapter to celebrate St Winifred's Feast Day (3 November) as a Feast of Twelve Lessons. [2 sources] 1276-7; 1282-1283: Destruction - The abbey sustained extensive damage during the Edwardian Wars. [2 sources] c.1280: Appointment - Edward I appointed one of the monks chaplain of his new castle at Flint. [1 source] 1284: Compensation - The house was awarded £100 compensation from Edward I for damages incurred during the warfare. [2 sources] 1290: Royal concession - The abbey received royal permission from Edward I to hold a weekly market at the annual fair of Glossop. [2 sources] c.1291: Wealth - According to the Taxatio Ecclesiastica commissioned by Pope Nicholas IV Basingwerk had a recorded annual income of £68 8s 0d. [3 sources] 1292: Concession - The community was granted royal permission to hold a weekly market at the annual fair of Holywell. [2 sources] 1295: Royal summons - The abbot of Basingwerk was one of four Welsh Cistercian abbots to be summoned to Edward I's parliament. [1 source] c.1346: Hospitality - The abbot of Basingwerk claimed that his house was burdened with hospitality since it was near the road. [1 source] 1347: Numbers - At this time there were about twenty monks at Basingwerk. [1 source] c.1355: Devastation - At this time the abbey was described as in a ruinous state. [1 source] 1379: Clerical taxation - The abbot of Basingwerk appeared in the 1379 clerical taxation. [1 source][1 archive] c.1405: Destruction - In the early fifteenth century Basingwerk encouraged pilgrims to visit its shrine at Holywell, seemingly in the hope that this would raise funds to help towards reconstruction work. [1 source] 1416: Pilgrimage - Henry V made a pilgrimage, on foot, from Shrewsbury to Basingwerk's shrine of St Winifred's. [1 source] 1454: Deposition - Abbot Henry Wirral was arrested for various felonies in Flint and deposed from office. [1 source] 1481 - 1522: Restoration - Abbot Thomas Pennant restored the abbey's fortunes. Read more about Thomas. [1 source] 1482 (18 June ): Complaint - The abbot of Basingwerk was amongst those who complained about the abbot of Woburn. [1 source] 1521: Contributions to general funds - The abbot of Neath collected 20s from Basingwerk on behalf of the Cistercian General Chapter. [1 source] 1526-1536: Numbers - Under Abbot Nicholas there were about three monks. [1 source] c.1535: Wealth - According to the Valor Ecclsiasticus the house had an estimated net income of £150 7s 3d. [3 sources][1 archive] c.1536 (late) x spring 1537: Dissolution - The precise date of the suppression of the abbey is not known but monastic life had certainly terminated at Basingwerk by spring 1537. [2 sources] 1537, 10 May: Custody of site - The site was leased to Hugh Starkey. [1 source] 1540: Custody of site - Ownership changed as the site was sold to Henry ap Harry of Llansa and Peter Mutton of Meliden. The Mostyns of Talacre later acquired the site. [1 source] 1923: Ownership - The former site of the abbey passed into State care. [1 source] + 26 minor events. Show minor events People associated with this site Abbots of Basingwerk Dafydd ap Llywelyn , prince of Gwynedd (patron) Edward I , king of England , lord of Ireland, duke of Aquitaine (benefactor) Gerald of Wales; Giraldus Cambrensis , archdeacon of Brecon (guest) Guto'r Glyn , Welsh bard (resident bard) Gutun Owain; Gruffudd ap Huw ab Owain , poet Henry II , king of England, duke of Normandy and of Aquitaine, count of Anjou (patron) Llywelyn ab Iorwerth; Llywelyn Fawr , prince of Gwynedd (patron) Owain Brogyntyn (Oenus de Porchinton) (benefactor) Ranulf de Gernon; Ranulph de Gernon , Earl of Chester (founder) Thomas Pennant , Abbot of Basingwerk (abbot) Tudur Aled , Welsh poet Bibliographical sources 61 Printed sources show sources 'Basingwerk Abbey and the Priories of Denbigh and Rhuddlan', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 4th series, 12:47 (1881), pp. 212-217 'Basingwerk Abbey', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 99 (1947), pp. 321-322 The Cistercian Abbeys of Britain: far from the concourse of men, ed. David M. Robinson (London, 1998) p. 66 'Documents Relating to the Subjection of the Houses of St. Mary, Dublin, and of Basingwerk, to the House of Buildwas, AD 1156-76', in Ecclesiastical Documents: Viz. I. A brief History of the Bishoprick of Somerset from its foundation to the year 1174. II. Charters from the Library of Dr. Marco Cox, ed. Joseph Hunter (J.B. Nichols and Son / Surtees Society : London, 1840; repr. New York, 1968), pp. 51-55 Medieval Monasteries of Great Britain, ed. Lionel Butler and Christopher Given-Wilson (London, 1979) pp. 144-145 The Early Records of Medieval Coventry [with The Hundred Rolls of 1280, ed. T. John], Records of Social and Economic History, New Series, 11, ed. Peter Coss (Oxford University Press / British Academy : London, 1986) nos 24 and 25 Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales, ed. R. Neville Hadcock and David Knowles (Harlow, 1971) pp. 112, 115 Monasticon Anglicanum: a History of the Abbies and other Monasteries, Hospitals, Frieries, and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with their Dependencies, in England and Wales, 6 in 8 vols, ed. Sir William Dugdale, revised J. Caley, H. Ellis, B. Bandinel (London, 1817-1830) vol. 5, pp. 261-264 Bezant, Jemma, 'Travel and communication', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 133-145 Brock, E. P. L., 'The Cistercian abbeys of Cymmer and Basingwerk with notes on the holy wells of Wales', Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 34 (1878), pp. 463-479 Brock, E. P. Loftus, 'Cistercian Abbeys of Cymmer and Basingwerk with Notes on the Holy Wells of Wales', Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 34 (1878), pp. 463-479 Brock, E. P. Loftus, and Owen, Edward, 'Basingwerk Abbey', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 5th series, 8:30 (1891), pp. 126-134 Burton, Janet, 'The foundation of the British Cistercian houses', in Cistercian Art and Architecture in the British Isles, ed. Christopher Norton and David Park (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 24-39 Cooper, R., Abbeys and Priories of Wales (Swansea, 1992) pp. 39-40 Cowley, F. G., The Monastic Order in South Wales 1066-1349 (Cardiff, 1977) Eames, E. S. and Keen, Laurence, 'Some line-impressed tile mosaic from western England and Wales: an interim statement', Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 3rd series (1972), pp. 65-70 Golding, Brian, 'Piety, politics and plunder across the Anglo-Welsh frontier: acquiring the relics of Winifred and Beuno', in Monasteries on the Borders of Medieval Europe: Conflict and Cultural Interaction, Medieval Church Studies, 28, ed. Emilia Jamroziak and Karen Stöber (Brepols: Turnhout, 2013), pp. 19-48 Gray, Madeleine, 'Preface to Cistercians in Wales and the west', Archaeologia Cambrensis, (2007), pp. 17-26 H. L. J. and J. W., 'Basingwerk Abbey', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1:2 (1846), pp. 97-116 Hodkinson, Edward, 'Notes on the Architecture of Basingwerk Abbey, Flintshire', Journal of the Chester and North Wales Architectural and Archaeological Society, 11 (1905), pp. 169-177 Hubbard, Edward, The Buildings of Wales: Clwyd (Denbighshire and Flintshire) (Penguin Books: Harmondsworth, 1986) pp. 353-355 Hurlock, Kathryn, 'Pilgrimage', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 119-131 Jones, Arthur, 'Basingwerk Abbey', in Historical Essays in Honour of James Tait, ed. J. G. Edwards, V. H. Galbraith and E. F. Jacob (Manchester, 1933), pp. 169-178 Kerr, Julie, 'Cistercian hospitality in the later Middle Ages', in Monasteries and Society in the British Isles in the Later Middle Ages, Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 35, ed. Janet Burton and Karen StÃ¶ber (Woodbridge, 2008), pp. 25-39 Kerr, Julie E., Life in the Medieval Cloister (Continuum: London and New York, 2009) pp. 19, 35 Kightly, C., A Mirror of Medieval Wales: Gerald of Wales and his Journey of 1188, ed. D. M. Robinson (Cadw: Welsh Historic Monuments: Cardiff, 1988) Kirke, Henry, 'Monastic Settlement in the Peak Forest', Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, new series, 1 (1924/1925), pp. 222-233 Knowles, David and St. Jospeh, John Kenneth Sinclair, Monastic Sites from the Air (Cambridge, 1952) pp. 108-109 Lloyd, J. E., 'The Book of Basingwerk in ‘The Welsh Chronicles', Proceedings of the British Academy (1928), pp. 390-391 Lloyd-Morgan, Ceridwen, 'Manuscripts and the monasteries', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen Stöber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 209-227 Lovegrove, E. W., 'Basingwerk Abbey', Archaeological Cambrensis, 7th series, 76 (1921), pp. 401-405 Matonis, A. T. E., 'A case study: historical and textual aspects of the Welsh Bardic grammar', Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies, 41 (2001), pp. 25-36 MÃ¼ller, Anne, 'Interpretations of claustral spaces with special reference to dormitories', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches ed. Janet Burton and Karen StÃ¶ber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 229-245 O'Sullivan, J. F., Cistercian settlements in Wales and Monmouthshire, 1140-1540, Fordham Univ. Studies, History series, 2 (New York, 1947) pp. 25-27 Owen, E., 'The monastery of Basingwerk at the period of its dissolution', Flintshire Historical Society Journal, 7 (1919-1920), pp. 47-89 Platt, Colin, The Abbeys and Priories of Medieval England (Avon, 1984) pp. 202-3 Redknap, Mark, 'Ivories from Medieval Wales: Contexts and Afterlives', Sculpture Journal, 23 (2014), pp. 65-80 Robinson, David, Basingwerk Abbey (Cadw: Cardiff, 1996; rev. 2006) Robinson, David M., The Cistercians in Wales: Architecture and Archaeology 1130-1540, Society of Antiquaries of London, Research Committee Report (London, 2006) pp. 225-229 Robinson, David M., Basingwerk Abbey (Welsh Historical Monuments: Cardiff, 2006) Robinson, David M. and Harrison, Stuart, 'Cistercian Cloisters in England and Wales: Part I', Journal of the British Archaeological Association, 159 (2006), pp. 131-207 Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions in Wales and Monmouthshire, An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments of Wales and Monmouthshire. Vol. 2: County of Flint (HMSO: London, 1912) pp. 40-41 Salter, Mike, Abbeys, Priories and Cathedrals of Wales (Folly Publications: Malvern, 2012) pp. 26-27 Stephenson, David, 'The rulers of Gwynedd and Powys', in Monastic Wales: New Approaches, ed. Janet Burton and Karen StÃ¶ber (University of Wales: Cardiff, 2013), pp. 89-102 StÃ¶ber, Karen, 'Social networks of late medieval Welsh monasteries', in Monasteries and Society in the Later Middle Ages, Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 35, ed. Janet Burton and Karen StÃ¶ber (Boydell and Brewer: Woodbridge, 2008), pp. 12-24 Taylor, A. J., Basingwerk Abbey, Publication of Ministry of Public Buildings and Works (1946) Thomas, R. A., 'The History of Basingwerk Abbey', in Proceedings of the Llandudno, Colwyn Bay and District Field Club, 11 (1924/25), pp. 17-34 Thomas, R. A., 'The History of Basingwerk Abbey', in The Heart of Northern Wales: as it was and as it is: Being an Account of the Pre-Historical and Historical Remains of Aberconway and the Neighborhood, 2 (Llanfairfechan, 1912), pp. 251-269 Thomson, D., 'Cistercians and schools in late medieval Wales', Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies, 3 (1982), pp. 76-80 W. L., 'Basingwerk Abbey (additional particulars)', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1:3 (1846), pp. 334-346 Westwood, J O, 'Basingwerk Abbey and Holywell (additional documents)', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 1:4 (1846), pp. 408-413 Williams, David H., The Welsh Cistercians (Leominster, 2001) Williams, David H., The Cistercians in the Early Middle Ages (Leominster, 1998) Williams, David H., Welsh History through Seals (Cardiff Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Cymru: Cardiff, 1982) p. 30 Williams, David H., 'Catalogue of Welsh ecclesiastical seals as known down to AD 1600, 4: Seals of Cistercian monasteries', Archaeologia Cambrensis, 136 (1988), pp. 138-155 Williams, David H., 'Basingwerk Abbey', CÃ®teaux, 32 (1981), pp. 87-113 Williams, David H., 'Abbatial disputes at Basingwerk', CÃ®teaux: Commentarii Cistercienses, 29 (1978), pp. 330-332 Williams, David H., 'The monks of Basingwerk: foreigners in Wales?', Flintshire Historical Society Journal, 39 (2012), pp. 33-52 Williams, Glanmor, 'Ffynnon Wenfrewi: St. Winnifred’s Well', Flintshire Historical Journal, 36 (2003), pp. 32-51 Williams, Glanmor, 'Poets and pilgrims in fifteenth and sixteenth century Wales', Transactions of the Hon. Society of Cymmrodorion (1991), pp. 69-98 Winward, Fiona, 'The Lives of St. Wenefred (BHL 8847-8851)', Analecta Bollandiana, 117 (1999), pp. 89-132 11 On-line sources show online sources (all open in new window) Black Book of Basingwerk online (View website) The Black Book of Basingwerk, image (View website) The Cistercians in Yorkshire Project - Basingwerk (View website) Image of 14th-century floor tile from Basingwerk Abbey, National Museums & Galleries of Wales (Item reference: 2000.30H/29) (View website) Image of 15th-century floor tile from Basingwerk Abbey, National Museums & Galleries of Wales (Item reference: 2000.30H/108) (View website) Image of 14th-century floor tile from Basingwerk Abbey, National Museums & Galleries of Wales (Item reference: 2000.30H/107) (View website) Image of 15th-century floor tiles from Basingwerk Abbey, National Museums & Galleries of Wales (Item reference: 2000.30H/44) (View website) People's Collection Wales - images relating to Basingwerk Abbey (View website) RCAHMW, Coflein database - Basingwerk Abbey, Holywell (View website) Silvester, R. J., Hankinson, R., Owen, W. and Jones, N., Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Monastic and Ecclesiastical Sites in East and North-East Wales: The Scheduling Enhancement Programme (report for Cadw) (View website) White, Graeme, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online - Ranulf de Gernon (View website) (Subscription reqd.) Archival sources National Libray of Wales, 'Black Book of Basingwerk', (Document), (View website) British Library, 'Dispute over abbacy; conventual seal attached', (Document), (View website) The National Archives, 'Exchequer, King's Remembrancer Clerical Subsidies - Basingwerk 1379', (Document), (View website) National Library of Wales, 'Grammatical treatises', (Document), (View website) Flintshire Record Office, 'Mostyn of Talacre MSS', (Collection), The National Archives, 'Special Collections: Ministers' and Receivers' Accounts: Monastic Possessions Possessions of the d', (Document), (View website) Related articles on Monastic Wales Remnants of Basingwerk Abbey, The Cistercians in Wales, Professor Janet Burton Who were the Cistercians?, Professor Janet Burton Images of this site Arcading in the west wall of the refectory, Basingwerk Abbey Basingwerk Abbey Basingwerk Abbey Basingwerk Abbey, south aisle of the church Claustral remains, Basingwerk Groundplan of Basingwerk, Cadw, Welsh Government (Crown Copyright) Holywell Holywell Holywell Holywell Holywell today Holywell today Monastic ruins at Basingwerk Remains at Basingwerk Remains at Basingwerk Remains at Basingwerk Abbey Remains of the chapter house, Basingwerk Abbey Remains of the former chapterhouse Remains of the monks' refectory at Basingwerk Surviving remains of the chapterhouse and church The former chapterhouse The former cloister; remains of the chapterhouse in the background $The monks\$ The monks' refectory, Basingwerk Abbey The ruins at Basingwerk View across the former cloister West wall in the monks' refectory West wall of the former refectory Windows in the former refectory	Basingwerk Abbey, south aisle of the church Flintshire, OS Grid:SJ19597747 View site details on COFLEIN (RCAHMW database)[new window]

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