Holmcultram Abbey

Holmcultram Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in what is now the village of Abbeytown in Cumbria, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1150 and dissolved in 1538. After the dissolution the church continued to be used as the parish church.Foundation and Scots connectionsThe abbey was founded in 1150 by Cistercian monks from Melrose Abbey on land given by Allen of Allendale. The land was in territory held by Scotland at the time, and the grant of land was confirmed by Prince Henry. The abbey was built of stone from north of the Solway Firth The area was re-claimed by Henry II of England who confirmed the grant of land in 1157. The Abbey rented land in Galloway and held it for 200 years, disposing of it because, they said, it was no longer possible for Englishmen to hold land in Scotland.History of the AbbeyThe abbey steadily became prosperous, acquiring lands in north Cumberland and undertaking reclamation work along the Solway. In 1301 it was granted a market at Skinburness, together with permission to build a church. Following violent storms which devastated Skinburness, both permissions were transferred to Newton Arlosh, where the abbey built a heavily fortified church as a chapel of ease. Experience had shown that the abbey's Scots origins did not protect it from attacks by Scots raiders, from whom it suffered repeatedly from 1216 onwards, with a particularly severe attack in 1319, by Robert the Bruce, despite his father being buried there. The community established a daughter house at Grey Abbey in Northern Ireland in 1193.