Order Premonstratensian | Disestablished 1536 | |
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Newsham Abbey was an abbey in Newsham, a small hamlet north of Brocklesby village in Lincolnshire, England.
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The abbey of Newsham or Newhouse was the first Premonstratensian house established in England, in 1143, the founder being Peter of Gousla, who held in Newsham one knight's fee of Ralf de Bayeux, and founded the abbey, and Ralf de Bayeux enfranchised that fee. It was dedicated to Saint Mary and Saint Martial. William de Romara, earl of Lincoln, and Elias d'Albini were also benefactors of the monastery.
The abbey was a daughter house of the abbey of Lisques, near Calais, and was parent of eleven others, including Barlings, Tupholme, and Newbo.
In 1385 the canons complained of poverty and heavy burdens of hospitality, and recent storms had almost reduced the monastic buildings to ruins.
In 1472 the abbot was censured for not providing an abbot for the daughterhouse of Alnwick.
It was suppressed in 1536, and the site was incorporated into a landscape park by Capability Brown during the 18th century. Parts of the abbey including the precinct boundary are visible as earthworks, and there is a heavy scatter of building material, and grassed over foundations.
Foundation
It was founded by Peter de Gousel, with the consent of his lord, Hugh de Bayeux, and the approbation of Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln. It was populated with a colony from Liegues Abbey, near Calais, France, then under the rule of Abbot Henry. On their arrival in England the White Canons were hospitably received by William, Earl of Lincoln, who confirmed the donations made to Gelro, the first Abbot of Newhouse, by Peter de Gousel the founder, by Ralph de Halton, and Geoffrey de Tours.
Abbots
The seal of Newhouse represents an abbot at full length with his crozier and the inscription: Sigill. Conventus Sci Marcialis. Ep. Li. De Newhouse. The names of Twenty-six abbots are known, the last being Thomas Harpham, who was abbot from 1534 to the suppression of the abbey by Henry VIII.
Spread of the Order
In time Newhouse became the parent house of eleven of the Premonstratensian houses in England. The following list gives in alphabetical order the names and dates of foundations of the Premonstratensian (Norbertine) abbeys, made from the Abbey of Newhouse and existing in England at the time of the Reformation: