Thornton Abbey

Thornton Abbey was a medieval abbey located close to the small North Lincolnshire village of Thornton Curtis, near Ulceby.

It was founded as a priory in 1139 by William le Gros, the Earl of Yorkshire, and raised to the status of abbey in 1148. It was a house for Augustinian or black canons, who lived a communal life under the Rule of St Augustine but also undertook pastoral duties outside of the Abbey. Officers within the abbey included a cellarer, bursar, chamberlain, sacrist, kitchener and an infirmer.

The abbey was closed in 1539 by Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Thornton was a wealthy and prestigious house valued at the dissolution at the considerable sum of £591 0s 2¾d. It managed to survive by becoming a secular college, until it was closed in 1547.

Thornton Abbey railway station is nearby.

The founding abbey building from the 12th century was Romanesque in style, but nothing of it remains above ground.

The later abbey from the 13th/14th centuries was built in Early Gothic style. Little remains of the building, except for three walls of the chapter house and part of the cloister, though the ground plan of the abbey is traced out.

The main interest lies in the gatehouse which is amongst the earliest large-scale uses of brick in England. It stands two storeys high and is structurally intact. There are few windows in the building, and the internal dimensions are cramped due to the thickness of the walls.

The outside of the building is adorned with three almost life-size statues directly above the gate. A bridge over the moat adjoins the gatehouse and is fortified with walls and guardrobes.

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