Newenham Abbey

Newenham Abbey (alias Newnham) was a Cistercian abbey founded in 1247 by Reginald II de Mohun (1206–1258) on land within his manor of Axminster in Devon, England. The site of the ruined abbey is a short distance south-west of the town of Axminster.

The manor of Axminster was one of the many Devonshire possessions of William Brewer, 1st Baron Brewer (died 1226), granted to him by King John (1199-1216). His only surviving son died without progeny, when his eventual heirs became his daughters, the fourth of whom, Alice Brewer, sister and co-heiress of William Brewer, feudal baron of Horsley, Derbyshire, in 1205 married (as her first husband) Reginald I de Mohun (1185–1213)feudal baron of Dunster, of Dunster Castle in Somerset. William Brewer, 1st Baron Brewer had founded Torre Abbey on 1196 on his manor of Tor Brewer. Alice Brewer brought to her husband a great estate, including Tor Brewer (later renamed Tor Mohun, the site of the modern town of Torquay), and "is set down among the benefactors to the new Cathedral Church of Salisbury, having contributed thereto all the marble necessary for the building thereof for twelve years."

The son and heir of Reginald I de Mohun by Alice Brewer was Reginald II de Mohun (1206–1258) who in January 1247 granted a part of his manor of Axminster for the founding of Newnnham Abbey. The foundation charter was witnessed by Richard Blund, Bishop of Exeter. The mother house of Newenham was Beaulieu Abbey. Reginald II de Mohun bequeathed his manor and hundred of Axminster to Newnham Abbey.

It was dedicated to God and the Virgin Mary for an abbot and twelve monks of the Cistercian Order, who were directed by the charter to pray for the soul of the founder, for the souls of his kindred, his ancestors and successors. The Latin foundation charter included the following words:

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