Sawley, The Abbey 1894

Photo ref: 34352

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Only a ruin remains. Cistercian monks came from prosperous Fountains Abbey in 1148 to found Sawley, which is three miles from Clitheroe and by the river Ribble. They discovered that it was difficult to grow crops on the often waterlogged ground. The Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII led to the execution of the last abbot and the dispersal of the brothers. Stone from neglected Sawley Abbey was purloined and built into house walls – an example is the bay windows at 16th-century Little Mearley Hall near Pendleton. By 1904 the ruins were covered in ivy.