Coverham

Title

Coverham

Also Known As

Chouerham, Coram, Corham, Covreham, Koveram, Swainbie

Dates

Founded 1190; dissolved 1536

Dedication

Assumption of Mary

Affiliation

Durford

Medieval Diocese

York

History

Originally founded in 1189 at Swainby by Halewise de Glanville, the Premonstratensian community was re-established at Coverham in 1212 under the patronage of Ranulph Fitz-Robert, lord of Middleham. In the 1270s, the patronage of the abbey passed to the powerful Neville family, but Coverham faced serious economic challenges and damage in warfare in the 14th century. It recovered, and became a powerful regional monastic institution in the later Middle Ages. 

Coverham was formally dissolved in 1536, but became a rallying point during the ill-fated Pilgrimage of Grace in 1540. The property passed into private hands in 1557, and the monastic complex had fallen into a ruinous state by the 1670s. Some partial ruins survive today, largely incorporated into later buildings.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Philip, 1196-1202
Couan, 1222-31
John I of Knaresborough, fl. 1252
William I, fl. 1262
Nicolaus, fl. 1287
John II, 1300-ca.1307
Thomas I, fl. 1312
Bernard?, fl. ca. 1320
William II of Aldeburgh (or Aldborough), 1331-ca. 1340
Gilbert, fl. ca. 1345-48
Robert, fl. 1351
Elias, ?-1371
John III de Askrigg, 1404-14
Cuthbert de Rydemer, 1414-ca. 1430
Gauden, 1435-37
John IV, fl. 1448
John V Maundby, 1451-?
John VI Bromfield (or Brownflete), 1470-88
John VII Askew (or Askogh), 1488-1509
Thomas II Sides, 1511-19
Christopher I Salley, 1519-21
Christopher II Halton (or Horseman), 1521-?
Christopher III Rokesby (or Raper), 1528-36

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Kew, National Archives

E 210/7613 (1298)

E 210/9944 (1404/05)

E 326/9422 (1404/05)

E 327/448 (1360)

PRO 23/2466 (Seal mould)

PRO 23/2467 (Seal mould)

SC 6/HENVIII/7454 (1535-37)

Leeds, West Yorkshire Archive Service

WYL230/16 (1403)

London, British Library

MS Sloane 1584. (Late 15th/early 16th c.; miscellany.)

London, Victoria and Albert Museum

E.985-2001.

E.986-2001.

E.988-2001. 

Preston, Lancashire Archives

RCHY 3/6/18 (1504)

Swindon, Historic England Archive

AL0264/041/02 (1928; ground plan)

Bibliography

Country Life. “An Abbey Gate.” March 12, 1927.

Country Life. “Coverham Abbey, North Yorkshire.” October 5, 2006.

Halsall, Guy. “Coverham Abbey: Its Context in the Landscape of Late Medieval North Yorkshire.” In The Archaeology of Rural Monasteries, edited by Roberta Gilchrist and Harold Mytum, 112–39. Oxford: B.A.R., 1989.

Harrison, Stuart A. “A 14th-Century Sculpted Arcade from Coverham Abbey.” Journal of the British Archaeological Association 166 (2013): 124–39.

L’Anson, W.M. “Coverham Abbey.” The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 25 (1920): 273–300. https://books.google.com/books?id=HLFCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA273.

Lloyd, Chris. “Coverham Abbey - One of North Yorkshire’s Ancient Gems.” Darlington and Stockton Times, July 27, 2018. https://www.darlingtonandstocktontimes.co.uk/news/16382588.coverham-abbey---one-north-yorkshires-ancient-gems/.

Moverley, Marion. “Coverham Abbey, the Lords of Middleham, the Glanvilles.” Yorkshire History Quarterly 2 (1996): 33–34.

Page, William, ed. “Premonstratensian Houses: Abbey of Coverham.” In A History of the County of York, 3:243–45. London, 1974. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/yorks/vol3/pp243-245.

Pinnock, Dave. “Archaeological Investigations at Coverham Abbey, North Yorkshire 1995–2015.” Yorkshire Archaeological Journal 88, no. 1 (January 2016): 238–47. https://doi.org/10.1080/00844276.2016.1201989.

Image Credit

Engraving of ruins of Coverham Abbey, 1785. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Northern England

Citation

“Coverham,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/79.

Geolocation

Item Relations

Item: St. Botolph's (Horsehouse) DependentOn This Item