Whalley Abbey

Whalley Abbey
Ruins of Whalley Abbey's claustral buildings
Coordinates	53°49′13″N 2°24′37″W / 53.8202°N 2.4104°W / 53.8202; -2.4104Coordinates: 53°49′13″N 2°24′37″W / 53.8202°N 2.4104°W / 53.8202; -2.4104
OS grid reference	SD 730 361
Listed Building – Grade I
Designated	13 February 1967
Reference no.	1164643
Scheduled monument
Reference no.	1008636
Location in the Borough of Ribble Valley

Whalley Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in Whalley, Lancashire, England. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey was largely demolished and a country house was built on the site. In the 20th century the house was modified and it is now the Retreat and Conference House of the Diocese of Blackburn. The ruins of the abbey are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

In 1296 the Cistercian monks from Stanlow Abbey moved to Whalley. Stanlow Abbey had been founded on the banks of the River Mersey in the 1170s by John FitzRichard, the sixth Baron of Halton and Constable of Chester. This abbey had suffered a series of misfortunes, including flooding in 1279, the destruction of the church tower in a gale in 1287 and a fire in 1289. In 1283 Henry de Lacy, tenth Baron of Halton agreed to the move from Stanlow to Whalley but this was not achieved until 1296. The first stone was laid by Henry de Lacy in June 1296 and at least part of the site was consecrated by the Bishop of Whithern in 1306. Building proceeded slowly and the foundation stone was laid in 1330. Stone for building the abbey was obtained from quarries at Read and Simonstone. A royal licence to build a crenellated wall around the site was obtained in 1339. The church was completed in 1380 but the remainder of the abbey was not finished until the 1440s. In 1480 the North East Gatehouse, which provided a new entrance to the abbey, was completed. In the 16th century, John Paslew, the last Abbot of Whalley, reconstructed his own lodgings and added a Lady Chapel. The abbey closed in 1537 as part of the dissolution of the monasteries. Also that year Abbot Paslew was executed for high treason for his part in events connected with the Pilgrimage of Grace the previous year.