Welbeck

Title

Welbeck

Also Known As

Vellebek, Welbek, Wellebec, Wellebech, Wellebek, Wellebeke, Werleberc, Wyllebek

Dates

Founded 1153/54; dissolved 1538

Dedication

James

Affiliation

Newsham

Medieval Diocese

York

Circary

Mid England

History

Welbeck was founded in the 1150s by Thomas de Cuckney. It was a prosperous house during the Middle Ages.

After the dissolution of the abbey in 1540, the property was acquired by Gilbert Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury. The former monastic complex was turned into a private residence.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Berengar, ca. 1153-ca. 1169
Adam, ca. 1183-1194
Richard of Southwell, 1194-ca. 1224
William of Croxton, ca. 1229-ca. 1243
Hugh, ca. 1250-ca. 1256/7
Adam, ca. 1263-ca. 1276
Thomas of Sutton, 1278-ca. 1292
John de Duckmanton, fl. 1309
John de Cestrefeld (or Chesterfield), fl. 1310
William de Kendall, fl. 1316
John de Nottingham, fl. 1322
William de Aslakeden (or Aslockton), fl. 1335
Robert Spalding, fl. 1341
John de Wirksop (or Wirsop), fl. 1349
Hugh de Langley, fl. 1360
George de Gamelston (or Gamston), ca. 1369-ca. 1387
William de Staveley, fl. 1389
John Bankwell, ?-1411
John de Norton, 1411-1450
John Greene, 1450-?
William Burton, ca. 1473-ca. 1482
John Lancaster (or Acastre), ca. 1479-ca. 1491
John Copper, fl. 1492
Thomas Wydur, ca. 1494-ca. 1500
Robert, ?-1503
Thomas Wilkinson, 1503-1519
John Maxey, 1519-1536
Richard Bentley, 1536-1538

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Cambridge, St. John's College Library

A.9 (12th c.)

Kew, The National Archives

DL 27/103 (14th c.)

E 41/397 (16th c.)

E 178/3062 (1560s)

E 322/256 (1538)

PRO 23/366 (seal plaster cast)

PRO 23/2890 (seal plaster cast)

SC 6/HENVIII/2850 (16th c.)

SC 8/328/E874 (ca. 1300)

WARD 2/57B/207/5 (1537)

Lincoln, Lincolnshire Archives

RA/1/REVESBY/3/73 (ca. 1200) 

London, British Library

MS Harley 3640 (13th/14th c.; cartulary)

Manchester, University of Manchester Library

Eng MS 109 (15th c.; sermon collection)

Matlock, Derbyshire Record Office

D 1005, pp11-24, 45ff (16th c.; cartulary extract)

Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Archives

157 DD/P/27/23

DD/P/6/1/31/4 (1302)

Bibliography

Foulds, Trevor. “Unpublished Monastic Cartularies of Nottinghamshire: A Guide to Their Contents.” Transactions of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire 88 (1985): 89–98.

Hamilton Thompson, A. The Premonstratensian Abbey of Welbeck. London: Faber and Faber, 1938.

Munford, Anthony P., and Aileen M. Hopkinson. The Leake Cartulary and the Derbyshire Estates of Welbeck Abbey. Derbyshire Record Society Series 43. Chesterfield: Derbyshire Record Society, 2018.

Page, William, ed. “House of Premonstratensian Canons: The Abbey of Welbeck.” In A History of the County of Nottingham, 2:129–38. London, 1910. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/notts/vol2/pp129-138.

Image Credit

S.H. Grimm, "South Front of Welbeck Abbey", ca. 1780. On the right is depicted a part of the house which was once the south cloister of the abbey, and which was demolished in the 1750s. Portland Collection Museum.

Files

Collection

Mid England

Citation

“Welbeck,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/131.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Newsham
Item: Talley DependentOn This Item
Item: Titchfield DependentOn This Item
Item: Torre DependentOn This Item
Item: Halesowen DependentOn This Item
Item: Cuckney DependentOn This Item
Item: Elkesley DependentOn This Item
Item: West Dereham DependentOn This Item
Item: Beauchief DependentOn This Item
Item: Coates DependentOn This Item