Fors Abbey

Description

Lancet window, site of Fors Abbey MYD4274 (c) YDNPA, 2023

Fors Abbey was founded as a Savigniac monastery in 1145, absorbed into the Cistercian order in 1147 and abandoned in 1156 when a new site was granted at Jervaulx. Chantry Farmhouse on the site is modern but an outbuilding has a lancet window built into its north wall that may have come from the Abbey or a chantry chapel connected with the Abbey. There are no other visible building remains, just two early earth built terraces to the south of the farm. In the 19th century, workmen excavating the track for the new Wensleydale railway, uncovered the remains of several skeletons near Askrigg which probably belonged to Fors.

Source:

Platt, Colin (1969) The Monastic Grange in Medieval England. A Reassessment. New York: Fordham University Press