Tupholme

Title

Tupholme

Also Known As

Thupholm, Tupham, Tupholm, Tupholn, Tupholyn, Tuphtolm, Tuppeholm, Tuppeholme, Tuppehom, Tuppholm

Dates

Founded mid-12th c.; dissolved 1536

Dedication

Annunciation of Mary

Affiliation

Newsham

Medieval Diocese

Lincoln

Circary

Mid England

History

Founded 1155-1165 on land granted by brothers Alan and Gilbert de Neville. The first brothers came from Newsham. It was always a relatively small house.

Tupholme was suppressed in 1536 and the property passed into private hands. Some partial ruins survive. The site was partly excavated in the 1990s.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Ivo, fl. late 12th c.
Geoffrey, ca. 1202-ca. 1230
William I, ca. 1247-ca. 1271
Thomas, ca. 1276-ca. 1289
Ralf, 1293-?
William II, 1310-aft. 1316
Phillip, fl. 1330
William III of Thorpe, 1336-?
Roger of Blankney, 1341-?
Simon of Lincoln, 1349-?
John of Beseby (or Beelsby), 1373-?
William IV of Tynton, 1383-aft. 1385
Alan, fl. 1430s?
Robert de Nettilton, 1433-?
John Spalding, ?-1456
John Coventry, 1456-?
John Ancaster, ca. 1468-ca. 1482
Thomas Sotby, ca. 1488-bef. 1494
Thomas Gryme, ca. 1494-ca. 1509
John Sword, ca. 1515-ca. 1522
John Ancaster (or Akaster), ca. 1525-1536

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Hull, Hull History Centre

U DDEV/39/23 (1519)

Kew, The National Archives

DL 25/2237 (1312)

DL 25/2237/1939 (1312)

E 312/6/9 (16th c.)

E 328/266 (1537)

PRO 23/2868 (seal cast)

SC 12/11/51 (16th c.)

SC 13/R56 (Seal)

London, British Library

Royal 4 A IV. (12th c.; Tatian, Diatessaron)

Manchester, University of Manchester Library 

RYCH/2724 (16th c.)

Bibliography

Bainbridge, Norman. “The ‘White Canons’ Rediscovered: Clearance Work at Tupholme Abbey.” History Today, April 1990.

Borradaile, Graham John. “Magnetization Dating at a Medieval Monastery (Tupholme, Lincolnshire).” Archaeometry 41 (1999): 175–83.

Cocroft, W., and P. Wilson. “Field Survey of Site of Premonstratensian Abbey of Tupholme.” RCHME Archaeological Requests, 1989.

Everson, Paul, and David A. Stocker. “The Witham Valley: A Landscape with Monasteries?” Church Archaeology 13 (2011): 1–15. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-3817-1/dissemination/pdf/SCA-VOL_13/churarch013_001-015_everson.pdf.

Friends of Lincolnshire Archaeology. “Revealing the Abbey: Stone Recording Project at Tupholme Abbey,” 2007.

Horncastle News. “Cash Gift for Abbey.” January 8, 2003.

Page, William, ed. “Houses of Premonstratensian Canons: The Abbey of Tupholme.” In A History of the County of Lincoln, 2:206–7. London, 1906. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lincs/vol2/pp206-207.

White, Andrew. Tupholme Abbey. Lincolnshire Museums Information Sheet, Archaeology Series 10. Lincoln: Lincolnshire County Council, 1979. https://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/assets/downloads/IA_arch_10_tupholme_abbey.pdf.

Image Credit

Ruins of Tupholme Abbey, 2007. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Mid England

Citation

“Tupholme,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/195.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Newsham
Item: Market Stainton DependentOn This Item
Item: Burreth DependentOn This Item
Item: Ranby DependentOn This Item
Item: Middle Rasen DependentOn This Item