This photo shows the remains of a Cluniac priory near Barnsley. It was the monks who gained a market charter for Barnsley which helped ensure the growth of the town. The eleventh century endowment included the advowsons (the right to appoint the vicar) of Ledsham, All Saints, Kippax, Darrington, and Silkstone.
It did not go well for the monks during the Anarchy when they were unceremoniously booted out. Gilbert de Gaunt who had claimed the estates eventually acknowledged himself in error by then the original monastic buildings had been demolished. He was required to compensate the monks for his over enthusiasm and gave a property at South Ferriby, Lincs. This left the monks with nowhere to live so in about 1153 the monks moved to a temporary residence at Broughton donated by Alice de Rumelli. Being Cluniac was problematical as was Monk Bretton’s relationship with Pontefract so it eventually turned into a Benedictine priory and stayed that way until it was dissolved on 23 November 1539. None of the monks put up any resistance preferring to accept their pensions.
Abbots of larger monasteries were on a similar social status to a temporal lord – indeed there was every chance that they were the younger sons of the nobility. Their role within local and national society required that they should have quarters fit for entertaining their peers and if Cromwell’s list of misdeeds recorded by his commissioners during their Visitation of 1536 are anything to go by sufficient privacy to entertain numerous ladies of ill-repute.
Sometimes the abbot’s quarters were built into the west range above the cellarium (an undercroft where provisions were stored – think very large pantry). The abbot would have his own chapel, a hall for entertaining and two or three other rooms.
Elsewhere, and as time progressed, the abbot might expect to have his own separate dwelling – sometimes with a private necessarium as at Netley Abbey near Southampton (abbot’s lodging shown at the start of this paragraph). There is no particular rule as to where the lodgings might be. Cistercians tend to put their lodgings to the south of the cloister, though strictly speaking Cistercian abbots had no business being anywhere other than the dormitory with the rest of the monks. As well as a garderobe an abbot’s lodging might reasonably be expected to include a fireplace to warm distinguished guests, in some cases they had their own kitchen and stables. The fireplace shown at the opening at the post can be found at Monk Bretton Priory – the remnants of a Cluniac foundation. In Kirkstall a rather grand staircase led to the abbot’s lodging and at Fountains there was a monastic prison in the basement complete with three cells and means of restraining prisoners. At Fountains the abbot’s ‘modest dwelling’ underwent considerable expansion at the beginning of the sixteenth century on the orders of Abbot Huby who added an office and bay windows.
In Carlisle, which had a bishop so the abbot was technically a prior there was a pele tower where the prior and his officers could flee in the event of marauding Scots.
The abbot’s lodging often survived the dissolution of the monasteries in the guise of a manor house. In York the abbot’s lodging of St Mary’s Abbey was retained by Henry VIII and used during his visit north. It played host to King Charles I and is now part of the University of York.