Croxden Abbey

Croxden Abbey, also known as "Abbey of the Vale of St. Mary at Croxden", was a Cistercian abbey at Croxden, Staffordshire, United Kingdom. A daughter house of the abbey in Aunay-sur-Odon, Normandy, the abbey was founded by the de Verdun family in the 12th century. The abbey was dissolved in 1538.HistoryFoundation and early historyIn 1176, Bertram de Verdun, the lord of the manor of Croxden, endowed a site for a new abbey near Alton, Staffordshire, to a group of 12 Cistercian monks from Aunay-sur-Odon, Normandy. Bertram founded the abbey, like many noblemen of his time, for the souls of his family and on the condition that the monks would celebrate mass "for the souls ofhis predecessors and successors".The monks remained at the Alton site until 1179, before moving to land near Croxden, a few miles south. Grants of land were made to the abbey across Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire, along with the churches of Alton and Tugby, and two chapels at Keythorpe and East Norton.