Leiston Abbey

Leiston Abbey cloister garth at dawn

Leiston Abbey outside the town of Leiston, Suffolk, England, was a religious house of Canons Regular following the Premonstratensian rule (White canons), dedicated to St Mary.[1] Founded in c. 1183 by Ranulf de Glanville (c. 1112-1190), Chief Justiciar to King Henry II (1180-1189),[2] it was originally built on a marshland isle near the sea, and was called "St Mary de Insula". Around 1363 the abbey suffered so much from flooding that a new site was chosen and it was rebuilt further inland for its patron, Robert de Ufford, 1st Earl of Suffolk (1298-1369). However, there was a great fire in c. 1379 and further rebuilding was necessary.

The house was suppressed in 1537.[3][4][5] A Cartulary or monastic register survives.[6] The Abbey's annual rolls of their court of wreck from 1378 to 1481 are a most important historical resource.[7] A series of late visitations, and a list of abbots, are in Premonstratensian records.[8]

The impressive remains of the second abbey stand in the fields to the west of the road going north out of Leiston towards Theberton. After the Abbey was closed the estate was granted to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk. The Abbey became a farm, the farmhouse being built into the abbey walls. A Georgian frontage was added to the house, which was extended in the 1920s. In 1928 the ruins and farm were bought by Ellen Wrightson for use as a religious retreat. At her death in 1946 she bequeathed the house, ruins, land and buildings to the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich. It was purchased in 1977 to become the home of the Pro Corda Trust, a centre for the specialized education and training of chamber musicians. The site is managed by them, and is in the guardianship of English Heritage.

  1. ^ 'House of Premonstratensian canons: Abbey of Leiston', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Suffolk Vol. 2, ed. William Page (V.C.H., London 1975), pp. 117-19 (British History Online accessed 12 May 2018).
  2. ^ E. Foss, The Judges of England: with sketches of their lives (London, 1848), p. 185-86.
  3. ^ A. Suckling, The History and Antiquities of the County of Suffolk, Volume II (Author, London 1848), pp. 422-52 (Internet archive).
  4. ^ The abbey's temporalities and spiritualities in Suffolk are shown in the Valor Ecclesiasticus: J. Caley (ed.), Valor Ecclesiasticus temp. Henr. VIII: Auctoritate Regia Institutus (Commissioners, 1817), III, pp. 436-38 (Google).
  5. ^ The abbey's inventory is printed in F. Haslewood, 'Inventories of Monasteries suppressed in 1536', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and Natural History VIII Part 1 (1892), pp. 83-116, at pp. 102-04 (Suffolk Institute pdf).
  6. ^ British Library, Cotton MS Vespasian E XIV. The scholarly edition is by R. Mortimer (ed.), Leiston Abbey Cartulary and Butley Priory Charters, Suffolk Records Society, Charters Series (Boydell Press, Ipswich 1979). Part of the Introduction (only) can be read online (Google). Texts of several of the charters are available in older sources.
  7. ^ B. Schofield, 'Wreck rolls of Leiston Abbey', in J.C. Davies (ed.), Studies Presented to Sir Hilary Jenkinson (Oxford University Press, 1957), pp. 361-71; M. Bailey, 'Coastal fishing off south east Suffolk in the century after the Black Death', Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology XXXVII, Part 2 (1990), pp. 102-14 (Suffolk Institute pdf).
  8. ^ F.A. Gasquet, Collectanea Anglo-Premonstratensia (3 Vols), III, Camden Society New (3rd) Series XII (Royal Historical Society, London 1906), pp. 43-55 (Internet Archive).