Rufford Abbey Totally Explained

Everything about Rufford Abbey totally explained

Rufford Abbey is an estate in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England.

The Monastic Foundation

The abbey itself was founded by Gilbert de Gant in, or around, 1147 and populated with Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire.
   The English Pope, Adrian IV gave the blessing for the abbey in 1156 and following this the abbey' lands expanded and the villagers of Cratley, Rufford, Grimston and 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. and the clear annual value as £176 11s. 6d.
   Abbot Doncaster obtained a pension on the dissolution of the house in 1536 among the lesser monasteries, of £25 a year; 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, occurs 1203
Geoffrey, occurs temp. John, 1218, &c.
Thomas
Simon, occurs 1232
G—, occurs 1239
Geoffrey, occurs 1252
William, occurs 1259
Henry, 1278
Thomas de Stayngreve, occurs 1283
Henry, occurs 1288
Henry de Tring, occurs 1315
Elias, occurs 1332
Robert de Mapelbek, 1352
Thomas, 1366
John de Harlesay, 1372
John de Farnsfeld, 1394
Thomas Sewally, occurs 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

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.

Georgian and Victorian Features

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 icehouses.

Ice Houses

Rufford Abbey once gave home to five ice houses, however, only two still remain today. All were constructed c1820, 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; this means that the ice houses were built in close to the lake purposely, 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. See Icehouse (building). 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, later it fed Rufford's water tower and brew house, still on the site today). TV Series One thing that many people may know of was its setting for the children's book and later TV series called 'Polly Flint' in the mid 80's. The small close-by village of Wellow was also used.

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