Lilleshall Abbey, Lilleshall (Shropshire)
Extensive ruins of an Augustinian abbey, later a Civil War stronghold, in a deeply rural setting. Free admission.
Introduction
Extensive ruins of an Augustinian abbey, later a Civil War stronghold, in a deeply rural setting. Much of the church survives, unusually viewable from gallery level, along with the lavishly sculpted processional door and other cloister buildings.
Lilleshal Abbey is the remains of a twelfth and thirteenth-century medieval monastry. The remains of the church and other large domestic buildings can still be seen. Other buildings such as a lady chapel and canon's dormitory are known to have existed on the site and are thought to have been situated to the north-east of the church. The abbey was enclosed by a large precinct wall, of which little survives today. This site is maintained by English Heritage.
Open 7 days, 10am-5pm, 1st April-30th September.
History to the present day
It is thought Lilleshall Abey was founded by Richard de Belmeis who settled a group of Arrouasian (later Augustinian) canons at the site in arround 1148.
Records exist that show the abbey gained much of its income from farmland, two water mills, a small collection of properties in Shrewsbury and tolls made from the use of the Atcham Bridge over the River Severn. However, by the early fourteenth Century the abbey was heavily in debt and the abbeys suppression is thought to have occured in arround 1538 when it is recorded that the property and goods of the abbey were sold for £75.
At this time as well as the abbot, there were nine canons and 43 servants at the abbey, including a schoolmaster. The site came into the ownership of the Cavendish family and a year later was passed to James Leveson of Wolverhampton. At the time of the Civil War, the abbey was fortified for King Charles I by Sir Richard Leveson.
Following the civil war the abbey was left in a ruined state of decay. In 1950 the abbey came into the ownership of the Office of Works and later was repaired before coming into the care of English Heritage, who continue to look after the site to this day.
