{{Short description|Former Cistercian abbey in Northumberland, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Use British English|date=August 2019}} {{Coord|55|9|59|N|1|42|16|W|type:landmark_region:GB|display=title}} [[File:Newminster Abbey 3 - geograph.org.uk - 222839.jpg|upright|thumb|300px]] '''Newminster Abbey''' was a [[Cistercian]] abbey in [[Northumberland]] in the north of [[England]]. The site is protected by [[Grade II listed building]] and [[Scheduled Ancient Monument]] status.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1155952 |desc= Newminster Abbey|accessdate=30 October 2019}}</ref>
Ranulph de Merlay, lord of [[Morpeth, Northumberland|Morpeth]], and his wife, Juliana, daughter of [[Gospatric II, Earl of Lothian]], founded the abbey in 1137 and Saint [[Robert of Newminster]] from the Cistercian [[Fountains Abbey]] was appointed as the first [[abbot]]; he governed from 1138 to 1159. The year after its foundation, the abbey (at that time only a group of timber buildings) was burned in an attack by Scottish raiders. The abbey construction resumed and in 1159 Abbot Robert died and was buried beneath the high altar. His tomb became a shrine and place of pilgrimage, and a number of miracles were ascribed to him so that eventually he was canonised.
The abbey was located a short distance to the west of [[Morpeth, Northumberland|Morpeth]], on the boundary between the lands of Ranulph de Merlay and Bertram of Mitford. Both these minor barons, and also D'Umfraville of Prudhoe, Lord of Redesdale, were significant benefactors in the abbey's early years. As a result, by 1240 the abbey possessed lands extending to Benton-on-Tyne where they had fisheries, to [[Cambois]] on the east coast where they had saltpans, and to [[Kidland]] on the [[Scotland|Scottish]] border, where they annually led sheep to pasture during the summer months. The abbey established daughter houses at [[Pipewell Abbey]] in Northamptonshire, at [[Sawley Abbey]] near Clitheroe in Lancashire, and at [[Roche Abbey]] near Rotherham in South Yorkshire.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Gubbins|first=Bridget|title=Newminster: Monks, Shepherds and Charters}}</ref>
After closure during the first wave of [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|dissolution]] in 1537, the estate was leased by the Crown to the Grey family<ref name="NA">''Blackett-Ord Manuscripts'' Northumberland Record Office, (Newminster Abbey Estate, reference NRO324/M1)</ref> who used many of the stones for their own buildings.
The estate including the site of the abbey was sold by the Crown to [[Robert Brandling]] in 1609, and was sold on by the [[Brandling of Newcastle|Brandling family]] in 1709 to John Ord of Fenham.<ref name="NA" />
The site is in private ownership and there is no public access or parking near it. However, the site can be viewed from the hill above it and from a public footpath that runs on the west side.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}
The abbey is the namesake of the [[Abbey Well]] water brand created by [[Waters & Robson]].
==Burials at the abbey== *Saint [[Robert of Newminster]] d.1159 *Ranulph de Merlay (d. c.1170), his wife Juliana and his son Osbert<ref name=":0" /> *Roger son of Ranulph de Merlay d.1188 *Roger son of Roger de Merlay d.1239 *Roger son of Roger de Merlay d.1265 *[[Ralph de Greystoke, 1st Baron Greystoke]] d.1323 *[[Robert de Umfraville, Earl of Angus]] d.1325 *[[Robert de Umfraville|Sir Robert de Umfraville]] (d.1437) and Isabelle his wife *[[Ralph de Greystoke, 3rd Baron Greystoke]] d.1418
== Civil parish == Newminster Abbey was a [[civil parish]]: in 1891 the parish had a population of 174.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10325675/cube/TOT_POP|title=Population statistics Newminster Abbey Tn/CP through time|publisher=[[A Vision of Britain through Time]]|accessdate=24 January 2022}}</ref> Newminster Abbey was formerly a [[Township (England)|township]] in Morpeth parish;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/place/9561|title=History of Newminster, in Castle Morpeth and Northumberland|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=24 January 2022}}</ref> from 1866 Newminster Abbey was a civil parish in its own right<ref>{{cite web|url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10325675|title=Relationships and changes Newminster Abbey Tn/CP through time|publisher=A Vision of Britain through Time|accessdate=24 January 2022}}</ref> until it was abolished on 30 September 1894 and merged with Morpeth; part also went to form [[Newminster, Northumberland|Newminster]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ukbmd.org.uk/reg/districts/morpeth.html|title=Morpeth Registration District|publisher=UKBMD|accessdate=24 January 2022}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.dhi.ac.uk/cistercians/abbeys/newminster.php Newminster Abbey] at Cistercians in Yorkshire project *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070312134900/http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_structure_information.asp?struct_id=201 Structural Images of the North East] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070928003211/http://www.keystothepast.info/durhamcc/K2P.nsf/K2PDetail?readform&PRN=N11070 ''Keys to the Past'' entry], with map
{{Morpeth, Northumberland}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Cistercian monasteries in England]] [[Category:History of Northumberland]] [[Category:Monasteries in Northumberland]] [[Category:Grade II listed buildings in Northumberland]] [[Category:Scheduled monuments in Northumberland]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1130s]] [[Category:1137 establishments in England]] [[Category:1537 disestablishments in England]] [[Category:Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation]] [[Category:Former civil parishes in Northumberland]] [[Category:Morpeth, Northumberland]]