Name: VAUDEY Location: nr Bourne
County: Lincolnshire Foundation: 1147 Mother house: Fountains Relocation: 1147-9 Founder: William le Gros,
count of Aumale and earl of York Dissolution: 1536 Prominent members: Access: Private Property no access
Vaudey Abbey was founded in 1147 by William,
count of Aumale and earl of York (d. 1179). It was the sixth
successful
daughter-house of Fountains. The community was originally settled
at Bytham, near to Williams stronghold at Castle Bytham
in the south of Lincolnshire. However, the monks soon found the
land
unsuitable and by 1149 one of Williams tenants, Geoffrey
de Brachecourt, had provided the community with new lands in the
nearby
parish of Grimsthorpe. The new site was in a tributary valley of
the river Glen and was named Vallis Dei, or the Valley
of the God, after this location. In Norman-French the name translated
as Vaudey. During the thirteenth century the house
flourished and probably became one of the largest in the Order.
Profits from
wool brought the house considerable income and by the late thirteenth
century this had reached approximately £200 per annum. The
house appears to have been held in high regard throughout its earlier
years. In
1229 the abbot was sent in the kings name to bear messages
to Llewelyn, Prince of Wales and in 1280 the abbot was empowered
to arrest all vagabond Cistercian monks or lay-brothers,
by the help of the secular arm, and to inflict appropriate punishment.
By the end of the thirteenth century the abbey
was experiencing some financial difficulties and the number of monks
probably decreased. At the time of the Dissolution the net annual
income of the abbey was valued at £124, and the house was
suppressed with the smaller monasteries in 1536. After the monastery
was closed, three of the monks took refuge at Kirkstead
Abbey rather
than make their own way in the world. It was an unfortunate move,
for they were singled out for execution in 1537 after they were
implicated in the Lincolnshire rebellion.
By the mid-sixteenth century
the abbey buildings were already in a state of ruin and in 1736
William Stukeley noted that only the precinct wall remained in
tact.
Today there are no standing remains although earthworks mark
the position of the central monastic complex. The site is within
the
boundaries of Grimsthorpe Park; the property is privately owned
and is not accessible to the public