Bardney Abbey

Bardney Abbey in Lincolnshire, England, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 697 by King Æthelred of Mercia, who was to become the first abbot. The monastery was supposedly destroyed during a Danish raid in 869. In 1087, the site was refounded as a priory, by Gilbert de Gant, Earl of Lincoln, and it regained status as an abbey in 1115. In 1537, six of the Bardney Abbey monks were executed for their role in the Lincolnshire Rising. In 1538, the Abbey was disbanded and its property seized during the Dissolution of the Monasteries campaign started by Henry VIII. The property was then granted to Sir Robert Tirwhit. Tirwhit retained the abbot's lodging as a house and converted the cloister into a garden. In later years, the lodging and garden became ruins along with the remainder of the former abbey. Excavations from 1909 through 1914 revealed the layout of Bardney Abbey. This can still be seen, though nothing remains to any height. Further excavations and conservation took place in 2009 and 2011. Some grave slabs and carved stones are preserved in Bardney parish church, which is dedicated to St Lawrence. The abbey site is now owned by the charity the Jews' Court and Bardney Abbey Trust.