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The Origins of Bardney
Bardney was once a slight island in the marshy ground around the Witham. The 'ey' part of the name means island, and it was named after the Saxon landowner or chief, Bearda - hence Bearda's 'ey' (Bearddanig), from which the name Bardney has evolved. Before the river was straightened in 1812 the abbey site would have been closer to the river, an ideal spot for the foundation of a monastery, combining the isolation necessary for the religious life with the access to markets needed for economic survival.
Bardney's Saxon Abbey
The first monastery at Bardney was built in Anglo-Saxon times and endowed by Ethelred, King of Mercia, and his wife Osthryd. It housed a shrine to Osthryd's uncle, King (and later Saint) Oswald. He was killed in battle in 642 and his body (minus head and arms) was brought to Bardney in 675. Oswald's head went to Lindisfarne Abbey and his arms to Bamburgh. The shrine to St.Oswald made Bardney an important place of pilgrimage and a prosperous religious centre.
The Abbey was destroyed by Viking raiders in 870 and the bones of St.Oswald were taken to Gloucester in 909 for safe keeping. Bardney was re-founded as a monastery in 1087.
"Do you come from Bardney?"
The story of the arrival of the bones of St.Oswald at the monastery has given rise to a well-known Lincolnshire saying. On the night that Oswald's bones arrived, the monks shut the abbey gates and refused to allow the coffin in. During the night a 'pillar of light' shone skywards from the cart and convinced the monks that Oswald was indeed a saint and that they had been wrong to shut his coffin out. Ever after, so the story goes, they left their gates wide open - hence the saying "Do you come from Bardney?", meaning that you have left a door open.
The Medieval Abbey
In 1087, Gilbert de Gant, the new Norman owner of Bardney and the surrounding lands, decided to found a priory here. He gave land at Bardney, Southrey and several other parts of his vast estate. Bardney was raised to the status of an abbey by Gilbert's son, Walter, in 1116.
The new abbey belonged to the oldest of the monastic orders - the Benedictines. The main duty of the monks was to recite the seven daily services beginning at 2.00am with Vigils (the night watch) going through to Compline, at dusk. Benedictines were also known as 'Black Monks' on account of the black habits that they wore.
Very little is known of the everyday life at the abbey. Some snippets of information are recorded as a result of the periodic checks (visitations) carried out by the Bishop of Lincoln. We hear of fights and misdemeanours and stern warnings about women visitors. Despite all the warnings, in 1437 we hear that Thomas Barton accused his brother monk John Hale of adultery with the wife of the convent's laundryman and in 1444 that John Hole (the almoner) "does eat in a certain booth by the water with a certain married woman contrary to the Lord's injunctions".
The Dissolution
In 1536 Bardney Abbey was threatened with closure and forfeiture of all assets by King Henry VIII, a fate to be met by all the abbeys and priories in the country around this time. In October 1536 a local rebellion (the Lincolnshire Rising) broke out against this 'Dissolution' and six monks from Bardney, implicated in the rebellion, were hanged, drawn and quartered at Lincoln in March 1537. After that, the monastery surrendered to the King and was dissolved in 1538.
Sir Robert Tyrwhitt's House
Following the Dissolution the land was acquired by Sir Robert Tyrwhitt. He demolished the church and used the stone to convert the other monastic buildings into a fine house for himself and his family. He moved into the abbot's lodgings and converted the cloister into a walled garden. The rest, he left to fall into ruin.
In 1718, Browne Willis surveyed the site and observed that all the buildings (including Tyrwhitt's house) had gone and only a fragment of the gatehouse remained standing. In 1753 William Stukeley, the famous Lincolnshire antiquarian, visited the site and observed: "Tis now a pasture, but the rubbish of the sacred structure has covered up the pavement of the church which they are now digging for the sake of the stones".
The Bardney Excavations
On February 17th, 1909, the history of Bardney Abbey was brought alive again by the local vicar, the Reverend Charles Laing. He undertook the excavation of the ruins of the abbey and, together with his team of labourers, he worked for six years to unearth the ruins of the main abbey buildings. Work was stopped by the war and by Laing's death and several peripheral areas still remain to be excavated. A report of the excavation was published in 1922.
The excavations revealed the layout of the buildings with the Abbey Church to the north and the Chapter House, dorter (monks' dormitory), refectory (dining room) and kitchens ranged around the cloister.
To the west of the church lay the abbot's lodgings and the gatehouse, and to the east, an infirmary for the ill and elderly monks.
Bardney Today
The ruins of Bardney Abbey were left open on view for the next 20 years, but during that time the stonework deteriorated due to exposure to the weather. In 1933 it was decided to cover up all the exposed ruins to protect them. The covering was done so that the outlines of the buildings still remain visible and visitors today can readily appreciate the scale and position of the church, cloister and surrounding buildings.
The site is now a scheduled ancient monument, owned by the Jews Court Trust and open to the public. The information boards on the site have been sponsored by English Heritage, the Countryside Commission, the Rural Development Commission and the Friends of Bardney Abbey.
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