Tarrant Abbey

Tarrant Abbey
Built	12th century
Listed Building – Grade I
Official name: Church of St Mary
Designated	26 June 1953
Reference no.	103746

Tarrant Abbey was an abbey in Tarrant Crawford, Dorset, England.^[1]

History

The abbey was founded in the 12th century by Ralph de Kahaines (of nearby Tarrant Keyneston) as a Cistercian nunnery, later supposedly the richest in England.

Two famous people are associated with the abbey. The first is Queen Joan, the wife of Alexander II of Scotland and daughter of King John of England (Richard I's brother and successor) who is buried in the grave yard (supposedly in a golden coffin).^[2] The second is Bishop Richard Poore, builder of Salisbury Cathedral, who was baptised in the abbey church and later (in 1237) buried in the abbey, which he founded. He was at one time Dean of the old cathedral at Old Sarum, and later became bishop of first Chichester, then Salisbury and finally Durham.^[3]

St Mary the Virgin, Tarrant Crawford, the parish church of Tarrant Crawford is all that remains of Tarrant Abbey.^[4][5] St. Mary's Church was the lay church of the Abbey and was built in the 12th century. It has now been designated as a Grade I listed building^[6] and is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust.^[7]

Known Abbesses of Tarrant Abbey

• Claricia, elected about 1228
• Emelina
• Maud, occurs 1240 ^[8]
• Isolda, occurs 1280
• Elena, elected 1298^[9]
• Anne, occurs 1351 ^[10]
• Clemence de Cernyngton, occurs 1377 ^[11]
• Joan, occurs 1402 ^[12]
• Avice, occurs 1404 ^[13]
• Edith Coker, died in 1535 ^[14]
• Margaret Lynde (uncertain)
• Margaret Russell, elected 1535, surrendered to Henry VIII March, 1539.^[15][16]

References

1. Anthony Emery, Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500: Volume 3, Southern England (Cambridge University Press, 2006) page 596
2. "Tarrant Crawford, St Mary's Church". Britain Express. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
3. "A Visit to Tarrant Crawford Church". Britain Express. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
4. Saint Marys Church, Tarrant Crawford, Dorset.
5. Diocese of Salisbury: All Schemes, Church Commissioners/Statistics, Church of England, 2011, p. 10, retrieved 31 March 2011.
6. "Church of St Mary". Images of England. English Heritage. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
7. "St Mary the Virgin, Tarrant Crawford". Churches Conservation Trust. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
8. Chart. R. 24 Hen. III, m. 3.
9. Sarum Epis. Reg. Simon of Ghent, i, fol. 33.
10. Cal. of Pap. Letters, iii, 407.
11. Pat. 5 Ric. II, pt. 1, m. 31.
12. 3 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. 17 d.
13. 5 Hen. IV, pt. 2, m. 29d.
14. en. VIII, ix, 236.
15. 'House of Cistercian nuns: The abbey of Tarrant Kaines', A History of the County of Dorset: Volume 2 (1908), .ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40146 page 87.
16. Deeds of Surrender, No. 233

Coordinates: 50°49′53″N 2°07′20″W / 50.831431°N 2.122276°W