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Thornton Abbey

In the civil parish of Thornton Curtis.
In the historic county of Lincolnshire.
Modern Authority of North Lincolnshire.
1974 county of Humberside.

OS Map Grid Reference: TA11511896
Latitude 53.6545° Longitude -0.3127°

Thornton Abbey has been described as a certain Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are major building remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

The best preserved standing remains of Thornton Abbey are of its gatehouse. This is a three storey structure built largely of brick with limestone ashlar dressings and decorative details. It was built in the 1360s and enlarged and defended after licence to fortify was granted to the abbey in 1382 and appears to have had an administrative function since it contained the Abbot's exchequer and courthouse. Three floors were built above a central gate-passage. The first housed a great hall. The second and third contained a complex of pasages and rooms. The gatehouse underneath is vaulted at the rear to two original oak gates which date to the 14th century. The front of the gatehouse is richly ornamented but has lost most of its battlements on which originally stood statues of men-at-arms and artisans. Approaching the gatehouse from the front is a barbican consisting of two parallel brick walls 38 metres long and ending in round turrets. This was built circa 1382 and is believed to have ended in a drawbridge which led over a now filled-in extension of the moat. Wing-walls flank the gatehouse to the north and south and turn at right-angles to enclose the inner precinct. (PastScape)

Clearly built as a courthouse, both for legal cases and for the paying of rent and homage to the Abbey from the various leaseholders, in a prestigious style. The later barbican is of much less good quality, does not fit well with the gatehouse and is at an oblique angle. It has been suggested (Gatehouse thanks Dr Hugh Wilmott) that this is a post-Reformation addition as the oblique angle does partly work to change the orientation of the entrance from the monastic church to the, now lost, early C17 house of Sir Vincent Skinner. This house is said to have collapsed without cause although given the shabby quality of the barbican if the house was contemporary and of the same quality the collapse would seem to be the result of poor building work.

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1382 Aug 6 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).
A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1389 May 6.

Links to mapping and other online resources
Data >
PastScape   County HER   Scheduling   Listing   I. O. E.
Maps >
OS getamap   Streetmap   Old-Maps   Where's the path      
Data/Maps > 
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Sources of information, references and further reading

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The information within this site is provided freely by me for educational purposes only.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.
The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
I do acknowledge the help I get.
*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
This record last updated on Friday, May 3, 2013
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