I love travelling for so many reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that it gives me an opportunity to not only see history, but to touch it. Coming from Australia, there is quite a limited field of history that is accessible. This is primarily due to the fact that Australia was only ‘settled’ in 1788 by the British. The Aboriginal people had been inhabiting the land for tens of thousands of years before this, so there is a lot of indigenous history to explore and discover, but there is very little history in terms of battles and old buildings etc. On the flip side, living and staying in the United Kingdom has opened up a whole world of historical places for us to visit. Not only here, but also abroad as Europe is only a stone’s throw away.
Some of my favourite places to visit are cathedrals, castles, monasteries and abbeys. There is so many stories to be found in these places, and it seems that you cannot travel for more than 10 miles without finding some sort of significant building or site to look at. Many of these buildings are falling apart and in some cases not much is left at all. However many of the castles, monasteries and abbeys still stand in part, and their ruins attract many visitors, like us, each year. We have been to many on our travels. One day I would love to be able to say that I have seen them all. I doubt that will ever happen due to the sheer number of them available, however, there are always new ones to visit. Recently on a trip to Barnard Castle, we were able to scratch Eggelstone Abbey off the list.
Ok, now for a brief history lesson on Egglestone Abbey:
Egglestone Abbey is a Premonstratensian abbey. The Premonstratensians are from the Order of Canons Regular Prémontré and were also known as the White Canons. The order was founded in 1120 by St Norbert. Isn’t that a great name? So, Norbert wasn’t just a dragon in Harry Potter, huh? Who knew?
The Premonstratensians were canons regular and not monks. This means that preaching and pastoral care duties were often a part of their lives and they would often serve and minister at a parish near to their abbey. Egglestone Abbey was founded between 1195 and 1198 for these canons. The abbey was always in financial trouble and at one stage was investigated to see if it fulfilled the financial requirements to remain an abbey or to be downgraded to a priory. The abbey suffered badly when the Scots tore through Yorkshire in 1315 (York sits just an hour or so below Barnard Castle). After the monasteries were dissolved in the 1500’s, Egglestone was granted to Robert Strelley who turned it into a mansion. John Morritt purchased the abbey in 1770 and it remained in his family until 1925 when guardianship of the abbey was turned over to the state. Egglestone is now an English Heritage site and is preserved and maintained for all to enjoy.
There is still a decent amount of the abbey that remains and you are still able to visit the first floor via a set of stairs. There are many nooks and crannies to explore throughout the abbey site including the stone table-tomb of Sir Ralph Bowes. There are many other stone tomb slabs on the site also. Although there are no facilities (in terms of tables, chairs, toilets etc.) on site, it is a wonderful place to bring the family and have a picnic lunch.
You can bring your dog. The site is completely enclosed by a fence so it is possible to let your dog off the lead to have a run around. Our greyhound, who, being an ex-racer, is very rarely off the lead in public, had a great run!
There is a small car park at the abbey also with free entry and parking. You can find all the information on how to get to the abbey and its opening times here. The site is so peaceful and serene it’s hard to believe that it sits just minutes outside of Barnard Castle. So take the family, a rug and a delicious picnic lunch and enjoy the beautiful and peaceful surrounds of Egglestone Abbey. If you are feeling energetic afterwards, take a stroll up the River Tees to Barnard Castle and explore the ruins of this once mighty castle that could have been the home for Lord Barnard (but that’s a story for another day).
If you are looking for accommodation in Barnard Castle, there are heaps to be found on hotels.com, or there is plenty of self-catering accommodation to be found on homeaway.co.uk or AirBnB, but you will need to sign up first (and don’t forget to search for ‘entire home’ on both homeaway and AirBnB).
Be sure to sign up for our mailing list as well, to receive updates about the website, as well as travel tips, hacks and deals that come our way.
PIN THIS IMAGE TO READ LATER.
