Barlings

Title

Barlings

Also Known As

Baerlingey, Barling, Barlingez, Barlingues, Barlynges, Barlyngis, Barlyngs, Berlinges, Oxeney Oxeneye

Dates

Founded 1154/55; dissolved 1537

Dedication

Mary

Affiliation

Newsham or Croxton

Medieval Diocese

Lincoln

Circary

Mid England

History

The abbey was established by Ralph de Haye in 1154, first at a site called Barlings Grange and then at a nearby site called Oxeney. Barlings experienced financial difficulties between the mid-14th and mid-15th centuries. Barlings' last abbot, Matthew Mackarell, was executed on the orders of Henry VIII in March, 1537, because of his involvement with the Pilgrimage of Grace.

Most of the monastic complex was ruinous and had collapsed by the mid-18th century.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Adam, 12th c.
Ralf, 1156-1166
David
Akarius, 1190
Robert of Rampton (Rampthon), ca. 1205-ca. 1216
Clement, 13th c.
Robert, 13th c.
Ingelram, fl. 1267
Ralf, fl. 1277
Richard of Sutton (or of Hanworth), ca. 1281-ca. 1317
Thomas of Edenham, ca. 1322-ca.1340
Alexander of Ramsey, 1341-1367
John of Kirkton, 1367-ca. 1396
Peter, ?-1400
Hugh, 1400-?
Thomas Maryng (or de Marynges), ca. 1403-ca. 1437
John Spalding, 1438/9-?
John Barkworth (Berkworth, Brakworth), 1446-1458
William Lincoln, 1459-ca. 1478
Thomas Belesby, ca. 1478-1503
William Forman, 1503
John Bayns, 1503-ca. 1506
Robert Barton, fl. 1509
Matthew Mackarel, ca. 1529-1537

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

London, British Library

Cotton Faustina B. I. (14/15th c., cartulary)

London, Public Record Office

Treasury of Receipt, Misc. Books 71.

Oxford, Magdalen College

MS Latin 199.

Oxford, New College

Muniment 9138. (1389, cartulary fragment.)

Bibliography

Everson, Paul, and David A. Stocker. Custodians of Continuity? The Premonstratensian Abbey at Barlings and the Landscape of Ritual. Lincolnshire Archaeology and Heritage Reports Series 11. Sleaford: Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire, 2011. https://archive.org/details/custodiansofcont0000ever.
———. “The ‘Reform’ of Religious Landscape 950-1200: Premonstratensians and Their Predecessors at Barlings Abbey, Lincolnshire.” In Places of Worship in Britain and Ireland, 950-1150, 103–24. Rewley House Studies in the Historic Environment 5. Donington: Shaun Tyas, 2016.
———. “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.
Page, William, ed. “Houses of Premonstratensian Canons: The Abbey of Barlings.” In A History of the County of Lincoln, vol. 2, 202–5. London, 1906. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lincs/vol2/pp202-205.
White, Andrew. Barlings Abbey. Lincolnshire Museums Information Sheet, Archaeology Series 5. Lincoln: Lincolnshire County Council, 1979. https://www.thecollectionmuseum.com/assets/downloads/IS_arch_5_barlings_abbey.pdf.

Image Credit

Ruins of Barlings Abbey, 2011. Wikimedia.

Last Updated

Oct. 2026.

Files

Collection

Mid England

Citation

“Barlings,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/88.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Newsham
This Item DependentOn Item: Croxton
Item: Middleton Stoney DependentOn This Item
Item: North Carlton DependentOn This Item
Item: Grange de Lings DependentOn This Item
Item: Riseholme DependentOn This Item