Bygone Burnley: Whalley Abbey, with historian Roger Frost MBE

One of the most significant historic and relgious sites in the whole of the county, Whalley Abbey sits in a picturesque setting on the banks of the River Calder.

Historian Roger Frost MBE walks us around the abbey ruins and explains what each individual area of the site was used for by the Cistercian monks who worked and worshipped here from the late 13th Century.

Inextricably linked with the powerful Norman de Lacy family, the abbey came to be built in Whalley after an initial building in Stanlaw, Cheshire, proved to be unsuitable.

Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, granted land at Whalley to the monks and in 1296 Abbot Gregory of Norbury arrived with 25 monks to begin work on the abbey.

Indeed, Roger explains the unusual significance of the site which had a church before an abbey.

“Whalley was one of the later abbeys to be built,” he said. “It’s very uncommon for an abbey to be so close to a church. Even more uncommon is that the church was founded in the seventh century but the abbey didn’t come until the late 13th Century. It’s usually the other way around as there were so many monastic orders in England at the time.”

Roger goes on to shed light on the various areas of the abbey and what they were used, starting with the cloister.

“The cloister was a rectangular area around which the monks said their prayers. Several other structures survive, such as the lavatorium, which was the area used by the monks for bathing.

“We also have the entrance to the chapterhouse, where the monks met, and nearby the library where the precious books were kept. The scriptorium, in a separate building, was also used as a dormitory where the barbati, or monks servants, slept. Wine and bread stores were kept underneath.”

Roger also reveals the history beneath our feet – tiled floors now covered in grass outside the chapterhouse.

The issue of clean water for the abbey is explored next, and how water from the Calder was used in the kitchens. Coming out of the kitchen area is a small trench which takes you to the reredorter, or toilet.

“The water from this area was then passed back into the Calder. Nearby we can see the remains of the abbot’s lodgings,” Roger reveals.

Our video then looks at the oldest part of the abbey – the house of the hermit, Peter of Chester, who was the long-lived rector who held the benefice for 54 years. He lived on the site before the abbey was built.

In the main body of the abbey, Roger shows us the remains of the choir stalls, the stone foundations. The stalls themselves, made of wood and carved in the 1420s, are still in the parish church.

Finally, we look at the high altar – a stone plinth still standing. Beside this is the lady chapel.

Roger ends by revealing that the church on the site was a signficant size, and as large as Ripon Cathedral today.