Beauchief

Title

Beauchief

Also Known As

B. Thomas de Bello Capite, Beaucheff, Beawcheff, Bellum Caput, Bewchefe

Dates

Founded 1173/76; dissolved 1537

Dedication

Mary; Thomas Becket

Affiliation

Welbeck

Medieval Diocese

Lichfield

Circary

Mid England

History

Beauchief was founded in the 1170s by Robert FitzRanulph, lord of Alfreton, Norton and Marnham. It became a regionally important abbey. Beauchief was suppressed at the Reformation.

The site was partly excavated in the 1920s and the 1950s, and is now public property.

Heads of Community

Abbots

G., beg. 13th c.
William I, ca. 1220-ca. 1230
Stephanus, fl. ca. 1230
Jordanus, 1231-1232
Gilbert de Salmonbury (or Salmonby), 1236-1237
Roger, fl. ca. 1270
Ivo, ?-1278
Ralph of Fulestowe, 1278-ca. 1285
William II of Folkingham, ca. 1296-1324
Robert I of Radcliff, 1347-1389
John I Norton, 1393
John II of Darley, 1394-1395
Robert II of Bubnell, ca. 1398-1414
William III Hawdene, fl. 1415
John III Norton, 1430
William IV Gresley, ca. 1431-1433
John IV Girdom, fl. 1443
William V, fl. 1450
John V Downham, ?-1462
John VI Swift, 1462-1478
Thomas Wedur (or Wither), 1478-1491/94
John VII Norton, 1494-1515
Christopher Lord, ?-1519
John VII Greenwood (or Sheffield), 1519-1536

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Cambridge, St. John's College Library

D.11.

London, British Library

Add. MSS 6667, pp. 668-684, 687.

Cotton Caligula A VIII.

Sheffield, Sheffield City Archives

MD 3414. (early 15th c., cartulary)

Bibliography

Addy, Sidney Oldall. Historical Memorials of Beauchief Abbey. Oxford: J. Parker, 1878. https://archive.org/details/historicalmemori00beau.
———. “The Discoveries at Beauchief.” Hunter Archaeological Society Transactions 4 (1935): 249–52.
Boulter, W. C. “Note on the Seal of Beauchief Abbey.” Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, Second Series, vol. 5 (1873): 175–76. https://archive.org/details/proceedings205sociuoft/page/174/mode/2up.
Elgar, W. H. “Beauchief Abbey.” Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society 3 (1929): 162–64.
Harte, Rhiannon, and Colin Merrony. “Two Way Traffic: The Importance of Beauchief Abbey as a Case Study for the Premonstratensian Order in England.” In A Review of Archaeology in South Yorkshire, 81–88. Sheffield: South Yorkshire Archaeology Service, 1995.
Hearne, Thomas, ed. “Ex Vetusto quodam Kalendario, in initio antiqui Codicis de Regulis Sancti Augustini, et de vita clericorum, spectanti olim Monasterio de Bello capite, id est, Beauchief, ex fundatione Baronum de Alfretonensis.” In Johannis, confratris & monachi glastoniensis, Chronica sive historia de rebus glastoniensibus, vol. 2, 557–66. Oxford: E Theatro Sheldoniano, 1726. https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nnc1.0026588625?urlappend=%3Bseq=279.
Hills, Gordon M. “Roche Abbey, Yorkshire; and Beauchief Abbey, Derbyshire.” Journal of the British Archaeological Association, First Series, vol. 30, no. 4 (1874): 421–29. https://books.google.com/books?id=yxIpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA421.
Jones, S. R. “A King-Post Barn of Late Medieval Origin at Beauchief Abbey House, Sheffield. NGR SK 333821.” Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society 23 (2003): 11–18.
Kirke, H. “Beauchief Abbey.” The Reliquary and Illustrated Archæologist: A Quarterly Journal and Review 7 (1867): 193–206. https://books.google.com/books?id=E1MEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA193.
Liddy, Lisa, and David G. Hey. A Monastic Community in Local Society: The Beauchief Abbey Cartulary. Camden Fifth Series 40. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press for the Royal Historical Society, 2012.
Meredith, R. “Beauchief Abbey and the Pegges.” Derbyshire Archaeological Journal 87 (1967): 86–126.
Merrony, C. J. N. “More than Meets the Eye? A Preliminary Discussion of the Archaeological Remains of Beauchief Abbey and Park.” In A Review of Archaeology in South Yorkshire, 1993-1994, 60–67. Sheffield: South Yorkshire Archaeology Service, 1994.
Mott, R. A. “The Water Mills of Beauchief Abbey.” Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society 9 (1969): 203–20.
Odom, William. Beauchief Abbey, Sheffield : Its Founder, Benefactors, Canons, and Services. Sheffield: Sir W.C. Leng & Co, 1927. https://books.google.com/books?id=OGgUAAAAQAAJ.
Page, William, ed. “Houses of Premonstratensian Canons: The Abbey of Beauchief.” In A History of the County of Derby, vol. 2, 63–69. London, 1907. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/derbs/vol2/pp63-69.
Pegge, Samuel. An Historical Account of Beauchief Abbey, in the County of Derby, from Its First Foundation to Its Final Dissolution. London: John Nichols and Son, 1801. https://books.google.com/books?id=OXxbAAAAQAAJ.
Potter, G. R. “Beauchief Abbey after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.” Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society 11 (1981): 46–51.
———. “Cartulary of Beauchief Abbey.” Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, New Series, vol. 12 (1938): 160–62. https://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-2300-1/dissemination/pdf/059/DAJ_v059_1938_147-162.pdf.
Poynton, E. M. “A Rental of Beauchief Abbey.” The Genealogist, New Series, vol. 27 (1910): 15–21. https://books.google.com/books?id=kKXoyhB7uk4C&pg=PA15.
Sheffield and Rotherham Independent. “Beauchief Abbey.” August 18, 1849.
Smith, A. V. Beauchief Abbey: Notes on the Layout and Remains; the Abbey and Surrounding Area. Sheffield: Privately Printed, 1993.
Stokes, John. “Notes on Beauchief Abbey.” Journal of the British Archaeological Association, New Series, vol. 10 (1904): 170–72. https://archive.org/details/journalofbritishns10brit/journalofbritishns10brit/page/170/mode/2up.
Walton, M., and R. Meredith. Beauchief Abbey Past and Present. Second Edition. Local Studies Leaflets. Sheffield: Sheffield City Libraries, 1975.

Image Credit

Remains of Beauchief Abbey, 2020. Wikimedia.

Last Updated

Oct. 2026.

Files

Collection

Mid England

Citation

“Beauchief,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/89.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Welbeck
Item: Wymeswold DependentOn This Item