Asset Stripping in the 16th and 21st Century

Assets marked with stickers are new to me.   Did Thomas Cromwell mark the assets of  abbeys, monasteries and convents when from 1536 to 1541 they were acquired by King Henry VIII (1509-1547).   The monasteries were a reminder of the power of the Catholic Church.    By destroying the monastic system King Henry VIII would acquire wealth and property whilst removing the church's Papist influence.

Since September 2020 I have been studying two horticultural courses at Newton Rigg College, Penrith.    Classes, recently suspended, began again last Monday.    On our return we discovered bar coded stickers on practically every item of equipment and furniture.    The college is to be sold soon.    Our community is anxious.

Religious buildings and places of education are of prime importance.   Cumbria's infrastructure was seriously challenged when the many monastic buildings and gardens were destroyed.     The ruins still show the remains of cloisters and their gardens - examples can be seen at Lanercost Priory near Brampton, St Mary's Priory in the grounds of Carlisle Cathedral and Furness Abbey in Barrow.   


The Cistercian Furness Abbey at Barrow in Furness

Today it is difficult to get a feel for what the cloister area must have been like.    Once, surrounded by high buildings, creating a rectangular court  it would have felt enclosed.   When complete the cloister had covered alleys on each side supported by elegant open arcading.  The cloister at Furness Abbey was rebuilt several times and by the 13th century had Trefoil arches, shafts and capitals standing on pairs of marble bases.   The central garth was usually laid out as a formal garden with paths and raised beds.

The monastic garden was a major source of food for the local community, and encompassed coppices, cemeteries and pleasure grounds.   The gardens provided plants for medicinal and cultural uses.   Herbs were cultivated in the physic garden that had well-ordered rectangular beds, while orchards, fishponds and dovecotes ensured there would be food for everyone.

The remains of nunneries are also evident throughout Cumbria.   Set in beautiful locations are St. Bega's Chapel on Bassenthwaite Lake and Armathwaite Nunnery at the confluence of the Rivers Eden and Croglin.    Here there is a romantic walk along the rivers' edge through the grounds of the former Benedictine nunnery.

Acorn Bank at Temple Sowerby is built on the site of a religious house of the Knights Templar established in 1228.    After the suppression of the Templars in 1312 it was acquired by Robert de Clifford and later transferred to the Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.   The Hospitallers held the estate from 1323 until King Henry VIII Dissolution of the Monasteries.    In 1543 it came into the hands of Thomas Dalston of Dalston near Carlisle. 

   


Acorn Bank Garden, Temple Sowerby

The herb garden, although designed in the late 20th century, has probably the most comprehensive collection of herbs in the  North of England and consists of medicinal and culinary herbs.   The garden, of nearly 250 species, is accommodated in three long borders and reflects the time when the Knights of the Hospital of St. John would have used herbs both for culinary and medicinal purposes. 

The Cumbrian Cistercian Way is 25 mile walk that takes two to three days.  Passing the grounds and gardens of many iconic religious sites in the south of Cumbria, the pilgrimage is through calming landscape in the footsteps of Cistercian monks.    The journey starts by boarding the tiny ferry to Piel Island, whose castle was built in this remote place to store and protect grain, wine and wool for the monks of Furness Abbey.   The trail ends at a 12th Century Priory in the village of Cartmel near Grange over Sands on Morecambe Bay.



Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park.
                   The intertidal mudflats and sand is the largest expanse in the United Kingdom covering
 a total area of 120 square miles.    

Monastic gardens had multiple purposes and were used by many people not unlike our college that employs over a hundred and has the capacity to educate a 1000 students. Newton Rigg College gardens are extensive with rare species of plants and trees.

Where will the people and the gardens go after redevelopment?    Hopefully, they will not end in ruin like the religious buildings and gardens of the Monastic Orders. 



 

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