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Roche Abbey is a now-ruined abbey in the civil parish of Maltby, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It is in the valley of Maltby Dyke, known locally as Maltby Beck, and is administered by English Heritage. It is a scheduled monument and Grade II* listed in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
When the monks first arrived in South Yorkshire from Newminster Abbey in Northumberland, they chose the most suitable side of the stream that runs through the valley to build their new Cistercians monastery. Twenty-five years later, at the end of the century, the Norman Gothic great church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, had been finished, as well as most of the other buildings. The control of the abbey was vested in the de Vesci family, lords of Rotherham, who in turn subfeuded the land to Richard FitzTurgis, lord of Wickersley (and who took Wickersley as his surname). Family of FitzTurgis, later Wickersley, Rotherhamgov.uk
From the start, the Abbey of Roche, built for the so-called White Monks, as the Cistercians were known, had an almost otherworldly air. It was, after all, built at the northern end of an area once covered by Sherwood Forest, and it was said that Robin Hood went to Mass here. (A diocesan pilgrimage is still made today on Trinity Sunday.) The Marvel of the Monasteries, History of Hallam Diocese, The Catholic Diocese of Hallam, hallam-diocese.com At its height it supported a community of around 175 men, of whom about 60 were choir monks, the remainder being lay brothers, a Cistercian innovation.
Eventually, on the death of co-founder FitzTurgis,One of the earliest appearances of the FitzTurgis name is on a York charter of 1194 which refers to "Turgis, son of Turgis.' [6] The name Turgis is Norman and its origin is the Old Norse Þórgísl ( Thorgisl "hostage of Thor"). The name FitzTurgis means, when translated, son of ( fils de in French) Turgis (still common as a Norman surname nowadays Turgis [7] and Tourgis [8], and in place-names such as Tourgéville (Calvados). Both FitzTurgis and de Busli have been described by one historian as 'two members of the lesser baronage'. The name FitzTurgis was later Anglicised to Sturgis/Sturges and its variants. control of the abbey passed to his son Roger, now 'de Wickersley', de Wickersley of Broomhall and Wickersley, wickersleyweb.co.uk and then eventually to a granddaughter Constantia, who married William de Livet (Levett), a family of Norman origin who were lords of the nearby village of Hooton Levitt (or Levett). The abbey continued in the Levett family until 1377, when John Levett sold his rights in the abbey to the London merchant Richard Barry. The Abbey of Roche, Houses of Cistercian Monks, A History of the County of York: Volume 3, Victoria County History, William Page (ed.), pp. 153–156, 1974, British History Online By the time of the dissolution full control of Roche Abbey was held by Henry Clifford, 2nd Earl of Cumberland, who came in for multiple grants at the Dissolution as he was married to the niece of King Henry VIII.James Hobson Aveling (1870). The History of Roche Abbey, from its Foundation to its Dissolution. Robert WhiteAlthough the Levett family had disposed of their patronage of Roche Abbey by sale to a London merchant in the fourteenth century, a lawsuit was filed in 1534 by 'William Levet v. Henry, Abbot of Roche.' A photograph of the original court roll held in the O'Quinn Law Library at the University of Houston: [12]
Between 1567–1591, Michael Sherbrook wrote an influential account of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, The Falle of Religiouse Howses, Colleges, Chantreys, Hospitalls, &c. Sherbrook was rector of nearby Wickersley while writing, and included a section on Roche Abbey. Sherbrook was a child at the time of the suppression and the account, "the most complete from any religious institution in England", was related to Sherbook by his uncle who had been present at the spoliation of the abbey.
Sherbook's account gives the impression of a frenzy with looting by locals, and that the spoliation at Roche Abbey happened in a short space of time. Reassessment of the source and comparison with the treatment of other religious houses suggests a more organised and structured approach, with lead from the roofs likely removed by Cromwell's men. A grant of 1546 mentions valuable materials, such as lead and glass, still on the site which the archaeologist Hugh Willmott suggests indicates that the process of spoliation took a longer time than implied by Sherbook.
Left in ruin, the land passed through a number of private hands until the 4th Earl of Scarbrough decided it needed revitalising to enhance his adjoining family seat at Sandbeck Park. Lord Scarborough enlisted the talents of Capability Brown. With an astonishing disregard for history, Brown demolished buildings, built large earth mounds and turfed the whole site. Until the end of the 19th century Roche Abbey remained buried beneath Brown's work and wooded parkland. But subsequent excavation in the 1920s returned Roche to its former splendour.
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