Rufford Abbey

Rufford Abbey
House & estate
Rufford Abbey
Symbol
Country	England
State	Nottinghamshire
Region	East Midlands
District	Newark and Sherwood
Municipality	Rufford
Location	2 miles South of Ollerton off A614
Founded	1147 as a Cistercian Monastery
Owner	English Heritage
Website: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.11940

Rufford Abbey is an estate in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England. It was originally a Cistercian abbey. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century it became a country house. Part of the house was demolished in the 20th century, but the remains, together with the grounds, are open to the public.

The Monastic Foundation

The abbey itself was founded by Gilbert de Gant, on 12 July 1147, and populated with Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire.

The English Pope, Adrian IV gave the blessing for the abbey in 1156, following which the abbey's lands expanded and the villagers of Cratley, Grimston and Rufford, Inkersall were evicted. A new village of Wellow, just outside the estate housed some of the displaced people.

The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 gives the gross income of the abbey as £254 6s. 8d. (£100,000 as of 2012),and the clear annual value as £176 11s. 6d. (£70,000 as of 2012).

Abbot Doncaster obtained a pension of £25 a year, on the dissolution of the house in 1536 among the lesser monasteries, but it was voided on his speedy appointment to the rectory of Rotherham on 2 July 1536.

Abbots of Rufford

• Philip de Kyme, temp. Stephen
• Edward, 1203
• Geoffrey, circa temp. John, 1218, &c.
• Thomas
• Simon, circa 1232
• G—, circa 1239
• Geoffrey, circa 1252
• William, circa 1259
• Henry, 1278
• Thomas de Stayngreve, circa 1283
• Henry, circa 1288
• Henry de Tring, circa 1315
• Elias Lyvet (Levett), circa 1332
• Robert de Mapelbek, 1352
• Thomas, 1366
• John de Harlesay, 1372
• John de Farnsfeld, 1394
• Thomas Sewally, circa 1400
• Robert de Welles, 1421
• Robert Warthill, died 1456
• William Cresswell, 1456
• John Pomfrat, died 1462
• John Lilly, 1462
• John Greyne, 1465
• Roland Bliton, 1516
• Thomas Doncaster, last abbot

Later owners

Ink on paper drawing of Rufford Abbey, Samuel Hieronymus Grimm, 1773.

The estate was later granted to the Talbot family, and its residents included George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury. In 1626, the house was sold to Sir George Savile, and later inhabited by his descendant, the Marquess of Halifax.

The Savile family sold the estate during the Great Depression, and it was later acquired by English Heritage. The late 17th century North Wing was demolished in the 1950s.

History of The Lordship and Liberty of Rufford

The Manor of Rufford was listed in the Domesday Book.

The Rufford Estate covered approximately twenty-nine square miles and in addition to the ancient Liberty of Rufford, it included the parishes of Bilsthorpe, Eakring and most of Ollerton, Ompton, Boughton, Wellow, and extended into Blidworth, Edwinstowe, Egmanton, Farnsfield, Kirton, Tuxford, and Walesby.

The titles of Lord of the Manor of Rufford and of the Liberty of Rufford were sold at auction by the Manorial Society of Great Britain in July 2010.

Ice houses

Rufford Abbey Ice House 1

Between 1729 and c.1845 many improvements were made to the Rufford estate. For example; the addition of the bath house, the creation of the lake and mill buildings, the construction of the brewhouse, water tower and coach house and also the addition of five ice houses.

Although Rufford Abbey once boasted five ice houses, only two remain today. All were constructed around 1820, when the estate was owned by John Lumley-Savile, 8th Earl of Scarbrough (1788–1856). The five ice houses are located near Rufford lake, created c1750; for the simple reason that the movement of ice from its source was easier.

Not all of Rufford’s ice houses faced north, as accessibility and the logistics of the ice may have meant that the builders found it easier to place the doorways facing the lake rather than northerly. It is believed that ice was mainly taken from Blackwalk Pond, which was drained to make way for housing in the 20th century. Blackwalk Pond was used to serve the abbey in Rufford's monastic era, and later supplied water to Rufford's water tower and brewhouse, which remain on site today.

The 1851 poaching incident and ballad

In 1851, a gang of forty or so poachers assembled in Rufford Park as a mass action against what was perceived to be the unfair monopolising of game-hunting rights by wealthy landowners. The poachers were attacked by ten gamekeepers and, in the ensuing battle, one of the gamekeepers was badly injured and later died of a fractured skull. Four of the poachers' ringleaders were arrested and each subsequently sentenced to deportation and fourteen years of penal servitude for manslaughter. The incident gave rise to the popular ballad, Rufford Park Poachers (Roud #1759), which depicts the poachers as bold heroes.

By the early 1900s, the Rufford Abbey Estate comprised some 18,500 acres (75 km²), but had begun to feel the effects of rising running costs and reduced incomes. It was eventually sold in 1938.

TV series

The abbey was the setting for the children's book and later TV series called Polly Flint in the mid-80s. The small neighbouring village of Wellow was also used.

Music

"Rufford Abbey" is a popular piece composed and arranged for Brass Band by D. Rimmer (note: not William Rimmer, known for his marches). It is often used as an intermediate grade competition piece, and is a popular choice for recitals^{[citation needed]}. Percy Grainger also transcribed "Rufford Park Poachers" in the third movement of his suite, "Lincolnshire Posy."

External links

• History of Rufford Abbey from Worksop Heritage Trail
•  "Rufford Abbey". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. 
• 'Friends of Rufford'
• Rufford Abbey's Gertrude Savile on Twitter (18th century diary)