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Langley Abbey
In the civil parish of Langley With Hardley.
In the historic county of Norfolk (Modern Authority of Norfolk, 1974 county of Norfolk).
Abbot and Convent of Langeley issued licence to crenellate in 1346. Parker identifies this as Abbot's Langley, Hertfordshire. The VCH refers the licence to Langley Abbey, Norfolk. The licence was for a crenellated belfry, which can hardly have been defensive. PastScape records this as "Premonstratensian Abbey founded in 1195 and dissolved in 1536. The precinct was surrounded by a wet ditch with three entrances. Some of the remains, visible above ground, are included in the present farm buildings. Excavations in 1921 revealed the remainder of the ground plan. The cruciform aisled church had a tower at the West end. The presbytery was flanked by chapels extending East from the transepts, and an additional chapel, North of the North transept, extending the full length of the transept and presbytery. The claustral buildings were arranged to the South. These included the sacristy, chapter house, parlour, dorter and its sub-vault and warming house in the East range, the frater in the South range, and cellarium in the West range. The gatehouse adjoined the North part of the cellarium at an oblique angle. Remains of a furnace in the Presbytery was presumably built, at the dissolution, to melt lead from the roof. Extant remains of the Abbey buildings comprise the stable, part of the Gatehouse, the Cellarium with vaulted undercroft to the North, parts of the West and North walls of the Chapter House and the South-East corner of the Infirmary. The stable and Cellarium are both in good condition and are used as farm buildings."
This site has been described as a;
Fortified Ecclesiastical site.
The confidence
that this site is a medieval fortification or palace is Questionable.
Masonry ruins/remnants remains.
A Royal licence
to crenellate was
granted in 1346 Sept 15.
This site is a scheduled
monument protected by law.
This site is a
Grade 1 listed
building protected by law*. (Images
of England number 226754, 226753, 226755)
The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TG36260285
PastScape number;
133389
Books
- Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1953, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longmans) p167, 213
Page, Wm (ed), 1906, 'Houses of Premonstratensian canons: The abbey of Langley', VCH Norfolk Vol2 p418-2
Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p414
Journal Articles
- Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol26 p69-100
Erwood, F.C. Elliston, 1922, 'The Premonstratensian Abbey of Langley, Co. Norfolk' Journal British Archaeological Society [new ser] Vol28 p49
Erwood, F.C. Elliston, 1920/22, 'The Premonstratensian Abbey of Langley, Co. Norfolk' Norfolk Archaeology Vol21
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents
- This section is far from complete and the secondary
sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Calendar of Patent Rolls (1345-48) p164
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to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant |
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Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of
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*The listed building
may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site
of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.
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