Furness Abbey

Furness Abbey stands in the Vale of Nightshade south of Dalton-in-Furness. Founded in 1123 by Stephen of Boulogne, it began as a Savignac house before passing to the Cistercians in 1147. By the 15th century it had become the second-richest Cistercian abbey in England. The monks owned mines on the Isle of Man and built Piel Castle to guard trade routes. The abbey was sacked by Robert the Bruce in 1316 and again in 1322, when the abbot paid to lodge the invading king. The ruins cover an expansive area and reach up to forty metres in height. Among the standing remains are the 12th-century transepts and the 15th-century presbytery in Perpendicular Gothic style. The night stairs door and an elaborate sedilia survive in the presbytery. The east range of the cloister still shows its first-floor dormitory with lancet windows and the ground-floor chapter house with paired lancets. Visitors walk past the abbot’s house, its later medieval rooms raised on arches above the cliff. To the south lies the infirmary with its vaulted chapel and buttery. Beyond the precinct wall stand three gatehouses, a mill and Bow Bridge. A track known as My Lady’s Walk follows the route once taken daily by a grieving squire’s daughter.