Blanchland Abbey
Blanchland Abbey
The Abbey Church of God and St Mary the Virgin at Blanchland, Northumberland, is a Grade I former Premonstratensian abbey church, now the parish church, in the Diocese of Newcastle.
- Location
- Blanchland, Northumberland
- Country
- England
- County
- Northumberland
- City / town
- Blanchland
- Address
- Blanchland, Northumberland, DH8 9SP
- Postcode
- DH8 9SP
- Built
- Founded 1165; extant church fabric 13th century; parish use after 1539; later C18 and C19 fittings
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Newcastle
- Parish
- Blanchland
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Early English; Decorated
- Materials
- Stone; later fittings include carved chancel ceiling of 1881
- Grid reference
- NY 966 503
- Opening hours
- Please contact us for details of opening times.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Walter de Bolbec founded a Premonstratensian priory here in 1165 as a daughter house of Croxton Abbey, Leicestershire; it became an abbey in the late thirteenth century. The house was dissolved in 1539. Part of the monastic church — the north transept and crossing tower, with the chancel — was retained as the parish church, the only Premonstratensian abbey in England to keep part of its original church in parish use. The wider precinct is a scheduled monument (NHLE 1017683); village houses and the Lord Crewe Arms occupy other monastic ranges.
Historic England’s list entry for the Church of St Mary (NHLE 1304226) records a thirteenth-century crossing tower, transept arcade, lancet chancel and medieval grave slabs, including two to abbots, together with small panels of fifteenth-century glass showing Premonstratensian canons. A carved chancel ceiling of 1881 and later sanctuary fittings belong to parish restorations. The church was listed Grade I; listing NGR is NY 96625 50398.