Lilleshall Abbey

Lilleshall Abbey is a twelfth and thirteenth-century medieval monastery between Telford and Newport.

Today some of the remains of the church and other large domestic buildings can still be seen. Other buildings such as a lady chapel and canon's dormitory are known to have existed on the site and is thought to have been situated to the north-east of the church.

The walls of the Chapter House remain almost intact but nothing else has survived to any degree. Some graves can be seen in this chamber, as this was the usual place to bury former Abbots of the monastery.

There were Arrouasian (later known as Augustinian) canons settled in the area from around 1135 but the abbey is thought to have been founded by Richard de Belemeis in 1148.

The abbey owned extensive areas of farmland and most of the income for the abbey came for this land, plus other properties such as water mills and other in Shrewsbury. The abbey also had the right to charge tolls on the Atcham Bridge over the River Severn.

By the early fourteenth Century the abbey found itself in debt and by 1538 it succumbed to the plans of Henry VIII to close all the monasteries in England. It is recorded that the property and goods of the abbey were sold for £75.

At this time as well as the abbot, there were nine canons and 43 servants at the abbey, including a schoolmaster.

The site later came into the ownership of the Cavendish family and a year later was passed to James Leveson of Wolverhampton.

At the time of the English Civil War in the 1640’s, the abbey was fortified for King Charles I by Sir Richard Leveson and besieged by Parliamentarian troops in 1645.

Following the civil war the abbey seems to have been left in a ruined state of decay.

In 1950 the abbey came into the ownership of the Office of Works and later was repaired before coming into the care of English Heritage, who continue to look after the site.