Furness Abbey

I grew up in this area, used to regularly cycle down to this area - called poetically, 'The Vale of the Deadly Nightshade'. There was a hole in the fence where we could sneak in and explore. Searching for masons marks was a fun game.

Sadly, the old ruin is in trouble again. Part of the far end is shored up with extremely heavy duty metalworks while they try to figure out the best way to stop it from falling down completely.


Its full name was originally the Abbey of St. Mary in Furnesia, and was at one time the second richest Cistercian Abbey in the country. It was dissolved in 1537, during the reign of Henry VIII, when so many of these old religious buldings were destroyed. This one was a voluntary dissolution as the monks saw how things were going elsewhere & decided to save themselves a world of hurt by choosing their time to leave.

http://www.furnessabbey.org.uk/