Cockersand

Title

Cockersand

Also Known As

Cokirsand, Cokresaunde, Crokeessand, Crokesand, Crokesande, Crokesant, Crokesaunde, Crokesond, De Marisco super Kokersant, Kokersand, S.M. de Marisco, S.M. de Marixo, St Mary of the Marsh on the Cockersand

Dates

Founded ca. 1180; Premonstratensian by 1190; dissolved 1539

Dedication

Mary

Affiliation

Croxton

Medieval Diocese

York

History

Originally the site of a hermitage and hospital, by ca. 1192, Cockersand had become a Premonstratensian abbey. The abbey was dissolved in 1539.

Part of the chapter house survives, having been modified to serve as the mausoleum of the Dalton famly, 1750-1861.

Heads of Community

Abbots

Henry, ca. 1190
Th[?omas], ca. 1194-ca. 1199
Roger I, ca. 1205-06
Hereward, ca. 1216-ca. 1235
Richard, fl. 1240
Henry, ca. 1246-ca. 1261
Adam de Blake (or le Blak), ca. 1269-ca. 1278
Thomas, ca. 1286-ca. 1288
Robert I of Formby, ca. 1289-ca. 1290
Roger II, fl. 1300
Thomas, ca. 1305-ca. 1307
Roger III, ca. 1311-ca. 1331
William of Boston (or Bosden), ca. 1334-ca. 1340
Robert II of Carleton, ca. 1347-1354
Jordan of Bosedon (or Bosdoun), 1354-ca. 1370
Richard, fl. 1382
Thomas de Burgh, 1377-ca. 1403
Thomas Green, 1410-ca. 1437
Robert III Egremont, 1444-ca. 1474
William Lucas, ?-1477
William Bowland, 1477-1490
John Preston, 1490-ca. 1500
James Skipton, 1502-ca. 1505
Henry Stayning, 1505-ca. 1509
John Croune, 1509-?
George Billington, ca. 1517-aft. Sept. 1522
John Bowland (or Bolland), ca. 1523-ca. 1529
? Newsham, 1520s?
Gilbert Ainsworth, fl. 1531
Robert IV Kendal, 1531-?
Robert V Poulton, 1533-1538/39

Status

Abbey

Archival Sources

Berkeley, Bancroft Library, University of California-Berkeley

f BANC MS UCB 127

London, British Library

MS 32099.

MS Add. 37769. (13th c.; cartulary)

Manchester, Chetham's Library

GB 418 Raines/2/3/18. (1501; Bursar's rent roll)

New York, Columbia University, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Plimpton MS 274. (13th c.; charter)

Other

Late 13th-15th c., Fragmentary charter roll. Private Owner (enquiries directed to Cumbria Record Office, Kendal).

Oxford, Bodleian Library

MS. Rawl. C. 317. (13th c.; miscellany)

Preston, Lancashire Archives

DDIN 7/4

RCHY 3/3

Bibliography

Axon, William E.A. “On a Thirteenth Century Manuscript in the Bodleian Library (Rawlinson, C 317 ) Formerly Belonging to Cockersand Abbey, and Containing Exempla.” Transactions of the Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society 23 (1906): 48–61. https://archive.org/details/transactionslan13socigoog/page/n96/mode/2up.

Clapham, A.W. “Cockersand Abbey and Its Chapterhouse.” In Some Famous Buildings and Their Story; Being the Results of Recent Research in London and Elsewhere, edited by A.W. Clapham and Walter H. Godfrey, 107–17. Westminster: Technical Journals, Ltd., 1913. https://archive.org/details/somefamousbuildi00clapuoft/page/106/mode/2up.

Dalton, Kate. “Cockersand Abbey.” Dalton Genealogical Society Journal 4 (1973): 24–28.

“Excavation of Cockersand Abbey, Lancs.” The Antiquaries Journal 4, no. 1 (1924): 56. https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.282962/page/n89/mode/2up.

Farrer, William, ed. The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order. Vol. 1, Part II. 3 vols. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester 39. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1898. https://archive.org/details/chartularycocke03farrgoog/.

———, ed. The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order. Vol. 2, Part I. 3 vols. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester 40. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1898. https://archive.org/details/chartularycocke04farrgoog/.

———, ed. The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order. Vol. 1, Part 1. 3 vols. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester 38. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1898. https://archive.org/details/chartularycocke05farrgoog/.

———, ed. The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order. Vol. 2, Part II. 3 vols. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester 43. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1900. https://archive.org/details/chartularycocke06farrgoog/.

———, ed. The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order. Vol. 3, Part 1. 3 vols. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester 56. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1905. https://books.google.com/books?id=KstCAAAAYAAJ.

———, ed. The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order. Vol. 3, Part 2. 3 vols. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester 64. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1905. https://books.google.com/books?id=S8tCAAAAYAAJ.

———, ed. The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Premonstratensian Order. Vol. 3, Part 3. 3 vols. Remains Historical and Literary Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester 64. Manchester: Chetham Society, 1909. https://books.google.com/books?id=kMU5AQAAMAAJ.

Farrer, William, and J. Brownbill, eds. “Houses of Premonstratensian Canons: The Abbey of Cockersand.” In A History of the County of Lancaster, 2:154–59. London, 1908. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/lancs/vol2/pp154-159.

Garstang Courier. “Abbey History.” September 20, 2002.

Lancaster Guardian. “If You’re Abbey and You Know It.” June 1, 2001.

MacNulty, Joseph. Thomas Sotheron v. Cockersand Abbey: A Suit as to the Advowson of Mitton Church, 1369-70. Chetham Miscellanies, New Series 7. Manchester: Printed for the Chetham Society, 1939.

Marshall, Brian. Cockersand Abbey : A Lancashire House of Premonstratensian Canons, 1180-1539. Blackpool: Landy Publishing, 2001. https://archive.org/details/cockersandabbeyl0000mars.

Raines, F.R. Rentale de Cokersand: Being the Bursar’s Rent Roll of the Abbey of Cokersand, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, for the Year 1501. Manchester: Printed for the Chetham Society, 1861. https://archive.org/details/rentaledecokersa00cock.

Roper, William O. “Cockersand Abbey.” Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society 4 (1886): 26–34. https://archive.org/details/transactionslan08socigoog/page/n46/mode/2up.

Sherdley, Hugh, and A. J. White. “Excavations at Cockersand Abbey, Lancashire, 1923-27.” Contrebis: A Bulletin of Archaeology for Lancashire and the North West 3, no. 1 (1975): 1–18. https://lahs.archaeologyuk.org/Contrebis/3-1-Sherdley.pdf.

Smith, James. “Presentation and Translation of a Deed Concerning Land in Scarisbrick Granted to Cockersand Abbey.” Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire 2 (1850): 214–15. https://www.hslc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2-29-Smith.pdf.

Swarbrick, John. “The Abbey of St. Mary of the Marsh at Cockersand.” Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society 40 (1925): 163–93. https://books.google.com/books?id=NjItAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA163.

Image Credit

The former chapter house of Cockersand Abbey, 2008. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Northern England

Citation

“Cockersand,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/90.

Geolocation

Item Relations

This Item DependentOn Item: Croxton
Item: Shap DependentOn This Item
Item: Tongland DependentOn This Item
Item: Warburton DependentOn This Item
Item: Chapel-le-Wood DependentOn This Item