Egglestone Abbey, County Durham

We venture to a beautifully situated medieval abbey overlooking the River Tees, just south-east of Barnard Castle. It was established around 1195 by a group of Premonstratensian canons, The monks, who were also all ordained priests, were known as White Canons because of their distinctive white attire. Throughout its history, the abbey suffered from on-going poverty, the haunting of the mad monk and not to mention raids from the Scots, So join us as we explore the peaceful site of Egglestone Abbey.

The abbey was founded in 1196 and as with many other Premonstratensian houses, it was built in a remote location away from the existing settlements, but close enough to running water of the river Tees. Then in the 12th century towards the early 13th a 12th century church was enlarged in a rebuilding programme that began at the east end and worked westwards. Elements of the old church were incorporated into the new building, especially to the north where it adjoined the cloister and at the west end. This enlarged church we walk around compromised a four bay aisleless nave with a crossing, north and south transepts with eastern aisles. Around this time too a new range was added to the west side of the cloister which was the abbots lodgings. The main surviving elements of the abbey are the nave and chancel of the church and the east range of the cloister.

Although the ruins of the abbey indicate that it was a magnificent building, it was always in a state of poverty. To retain its abbey status, they always needed twelve canons and at times even struggled to achieve this. Failing to do so would have resulted in the abbey being downgraded to priory status. When Bishops visited, they often reported that the monks were not sticking to the rules, particularly the ones concerning periods of silence and wearing the appropriate garb.

In my opinion, the most imposing view is looking along the church nave towards the high altar and looking at the several medieval gravestones in the floor that are really fascinating to try and read where you can still see the amazing stonework on the mighty chest tomb of Sir Ralph Bowes, who was the father of Sir Robert and Sir George Bowes who were both keepers of nearby Barnard Castle.

The table tomb is really quite picturesque and steals the show how isolated it stands in the middle of the now ruinous church. The atmosphere and site is rather pretty in itself too definitely a romantic ruin with a gothic tone even on the sunniest of days. A visit to Egglestone is free to roam and free to park which is always an added bonus and being in the area you’re really close to Barnard Castle and Bowes Castle and Museum, so you can easily make a day of exploring the area.

I find visiting obscure ruins as rewarding as visiting the potentially over-hyped, infinitely more crowded, better-known, larger castles and ruins, Egglestone has a beautiful vibe and the sounds of the sheep grazing in the fields next to it is usually all you can hear, if not for the history a visit here is worth it for the wander.

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Till Next Time!