Name: VALE ROYAL Location: nr Winsford
County: Cheshire Foundation: 1274 Mother house: Abbey Dore Relocation: 1281 Founder: Edward I Dissolution: September 1538 Prominent members: Access: No standing remains now occupied by golf course
According to one of the abbey’s own historians,
Vale Royal owed its foundation to a vow made by the future Edward
I on a perilous voyage at sea. Edward was returning from the Holy
Land, probably during the winter of 1263-4, and was caught in
a
violent storm in the English Channel. He vowed that if he was delivered
from this danger he would found a Cistercian monastery in England,
and endow it richly enough to maintain one hundred monks forever.
The implementation of his plan was delayed for two years due to
war but, in August 1270, he finally issued a foundation charter
for the monastery of St. Mary at Darnhall, in the royal forest
of
Delamere. The monastery of Abbey Dore agreed
to provide a colony of monks for the initial settlement and the
community finally arrived
at Darnhall in 1274. The site, however, proved unsuitable for the
new abbey and Edward permitted the monks to choose a new one out
of all the kingdom of England. The monks chose a site only
four miles from the original one and Edward renamed the abbey
Vale
Royal. On 13 August 1277 Edward laid the foundation stone of the
High Altar in honour of the Virgin and St. Nicholas. Just before
Edward was crowned king he fought in the Holy Land
(1271-2), playing a major part in the defence of the remaining
territories
against
Baybars. He brought back to England a portion of the Holy Cross
which he gave to the abbey at its foundation. The chronicler
of
Vale Royal also recorded how Edward sought everywhere for canonically
approved relics of the saints to bestow on the abbey and how
he
endowed the abbey with hallowed vessels and whole-silk vestments
and precious books.
In 1281 the monks moved from Darnhall to the
temporary accommodation provided for them at Vale Royal. Edward
had intended the abbey to be the largest and most impressive of
all the Cistercian foundations in England: Edwards patronage
of the abbey is to be seen as an aspect of royal prestige and domination.
Initially building work progressed rapidly, the huge costs met by
annual payments made by the king. Most of the work seems to have
gone into the construction of the abbey church although there is
evidence that the cloister ranges were also being provided for.
However, after thirteen years of work and for reasons unknown, King
Edward declared that he was no longer interested in the construction
of the abbey and thenceforth would have nothing more to do with
the project. The community was left to manage a construction programme
that was far beyond its means and, not surprisingly, the house never
achieved the size or grandeur that Edward had intended. The abbey
only had a community of twenty-one monks in 1336 and eighteen in
1381. A new phase of patronage began under Edward, the Black Prince
and earl of Chester (d. 1376). He decided to continue the work of
his grandfather and embarked upon a scheme to embellish the east
end of the church with twelve new chapels. However, such promise
was dampened once again when a violent storm swept through Cheshire
in October 1360 and the entire nave of the church was said to have
been destroyed. It was impracticable that the church should be entirely
rebuilt and Richard II (1377-99) scaled it back in height and width.
By the early fifteenth century the house was
said to have been in financial difficulties: legal disputes, local
disorder and poor management all contributed to the wasting of
the abbey. Despite all this, the house still turned over a substantial
income. At the time of the Dissolution the abbey had a net annual
income of £518 and a community of fifteen. The house was
suppressed during the second round of closures, and was surrendered
in September
1538. Following the Dissolution the site was acquired by the royal
commissioner, Thomas Holcroft, who plucked down the
great church. Afterwards he built a house which incorporated
some
of the monastic buildings. Evidence suggests that the plan focused
around the conversion of the south and west ranges. Holcrofts
house, although much altered since the sixteenth century, can
still be
seen at Vale Royal today. It has recently been converted to provide
a clubhouse and other facilities for a golf course. There are
no
visible remains of the church, although a monument known as the
Nuns Grave marks the spot where the High Altar
is thought to have been.