Name: REVESBY Location: nr Revesby
village County: Lincolnshire Foundation: 1142 Mother house: Rievaulx Relocation: None Founder: William de Roumare I, earl
of Lincoln Dissolution: c. 1539 Prominent members: Access: Private property no public access
Revesby Abbey was founded by William de Roumare,
lord of Bolingbroke and earl of Lincoln, and half- brother of
Ranulf,
earl of Chester. Revesby was colonised by the usual thirteen monks
and some lay- brothers from Rievaulx,
and was the fourth daughter-house of this abbey. The site was
on an existing village, on the northern edge of the fen, which
had
become depopulated. Upon their arrival in 1142/3, the new colony
of monks used the existing church of St. Lawrence
as a temporary church. Revesby Abbey was
fairly
well endowed and was to become one of the richest houses of the
Cistercian Order in the thirteenth century. The founding abbot,
St. Aelred (d. 1167), later achieved considerable at Rievaulx,
where he presided as abbot from 1147 to 1166. The abbeys
founder, William de Roumare, ended his days as a monk of Revesby
and following his
death
was
buried within the grounds of the abbey.
At the time of the
Dssolution, the annual net income of the house was assessed at £287
and the abbey was reported to have been in a state of great
ruin
and decay.(1) Revesby was dissolved
along with all the larger monasteries in 1538/9. One of the witnesses
of the Lincolnshire rebellion
of
1536 asserted that the monks of Revesby had been seen in the field
alongside the insurgents but none of them was brought to trial.(2) Following
the Dissolution the site was granted to Charles Brandon, duke
of Suffolk (1514-45). There are no standing remains, although
the earthworks define not only the church and cloister, but also
an extensive precinct. The site lies on farmland and there is
no
public access.