Dale Abbey - Part
6 - St Mary's Abbey
w/e 03 July 2005
All
this week's pictures were taken with a Kodak DX6490
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Following the route as we have
along Moor Lane, up Woodpecker Hill and through Hermit's Wood
we have actually been circumnavigating the architectural feature
that had a strong bearing on the name of the village. In this
sixth part of the series we shall examine that feature more closely
as we continue down the lane from All Saints' Church to the Abbey
of St Mary.
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Most people visiting Dale Abbey will probably make a beeline
for the remains of St Mary's Abbey and approach from the road
called The Village. That means they would reach the style and
gate in this picture from the left but as we have visited the
Hermit's Cave first and then All Saints' Church our approach
is from the opposite direction. A footpath leads from the gate
across the fields to Moor Lane which we saw in Part 2. Then we
concentrated our attentions on the northern side of the lane
but a glance to the right would have revealed the ruined arch
which stands behind the white building in the picture above.
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Those visitors with cameras walking across the fields would no
doubt end up with an image of the arch similar to one or more
of the above. In fact three of the four above were taken on our
previous visits, only the one on the extreme left being taken
this time. These are all taken from positions that would have
been outside the Abbey building but for this series I wanted
an image from what would have been the inside.
Returning from the footpath across the fields to the gate and
style we can head in the direction of The Village and one of
the first properties we encounter is Abbey House. Following the
1538 Dissolution of the Monasteries, much of the stone from St
Mary's Abbey was removed and it has been incorporated into local
farms and other buildings over the years but here, some of the
original walls have been incorporated into the structure of Abbey
House. The dwelling also contains a fireplace from the Abbey
refectory.
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We are fortunate enough to know the owners of Abbey House and
would like to record our gratitude to them for allowing us into
their back garden for these pictures. This one shows the east
window arch from the opposite side to the four smaller images
seen above i.e. from the interior of the Abbey. We have seen
already in this series how Cornelius, the Derby Baker, had a
vision about 1130AD and came to Depedale, as it was then known,
to make his home as a hermit in a cave in a sandstone cliff.
All Saints' Church was built circa 1150 when he came down from
his cave and by 1250, the magnificent Abbey had also been built.
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A Priory was originally founded on the site by Augustinian Canons
from Calke Abbey around 1150 but when they moved out some 50
years later, Premonstratensian Canons took up residence. They
belonged to an order founded by St Norbert at Premontre in France.
The Abbey flourished until Henry VIII intervened and the use
of the stone for other purposes since means that, apart from
the East Widow Arch, little else remains in situ except the bases
of some of the walls and pillars.
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There is however, also in the garden of Abbey House, this building
on the site of the Chapter House which serves as a small museum
where most of what else remains has been collected and stored.
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Inside the museum are three tombs and the walls are lined with
shelves holding boxes and crates containing tiles, stones and
other items of interest recovered from the site of the Abbey.
When one of the tombs was opened (shades of Howard Carter and
Tutankhamun) it revealed a huge oak coffin. Within the coffin,
a skeleton was found to be lying on a bed of mud and privet leaves
and the leaves were still green after more than 600 years. Having
taken our photographs and leaving the deceased monks once more
to rest in peace we left the museum and returned to the road
to continue into The Village
Now in the heart of the village we shall resume our
walk in the next part by turning left by the information board
into Tattle Hill before heading off right along The Village to
conclude our walk at the Carpenters Arms.
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