Tupholme Abbey was a Premonstratensian abbey close to the River Witham some east of the city of Lincoln, England and one of nine such abbeys within the historical county. The Witham valley in Lincolnshire is notable for its high concentration of monasteries—there were six on the east bank and three on the west—all presumably drawn to the area by the usefulness of the River Witham for transport and by the wealth (in wool) that it transported. The abbey was largely destroyed by 1538, after being seized during Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.
The abbey ruin, located off the B1190 between Bardney and Horncastle, is a Grade I listed building. It is maintained by Heritage Lincolnshire.
The Placename
The name Tupholme reflects the influence of Scandinavian cultures on Lincolnshire during the Danelaw during the 9th-11th centuries and it means basically an island where rams were raised. 'Tupp' is a word for male sheep first used in the north of Britain during the Middle Ages, with origins generally given as 'unknown', though it is conceivably related to the Swedish word 'tupp' meaning a male chicken (cock). As for the 'holme' in Tupholme, it comes from an old Norse word 'holmr', meaning an island and indicating that the abbey once stood on an island in a marsh, the surrounding lands having been wet before the fens were drained for farming.
The Premonstratensian Order
An order whose medieval traces are not much alluded to in modern England is the Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and formerly, in Great Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit). This is an international religious order founded in 1120 in Prémontré near Laon, France, by Saint Norbert of Xanten, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg. Norbert was a friend of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the great Cistercian abbot, and like Bernard, aimed at intensification of the Christian life. However, the Premonstratensians are not monks, but Canons Regular. Like monks, the Canons Regular live in community and celebrate together the various religious services. Unlike monks, however, the work of Canons Regular places fundamental emphasis on preaching and the exercise of pastoral ministry. There have been, and are several orders of Canons Regular, of which the Premonstratensians are one. The latter were ruled by an abbot general who, before the French Revolution, was the abbot of their French motherhouse of Prémontré, but is now resident in Rome. The larger houses of Canons Regular are sometimes ruled by an abbot and the smaller ones by a prior. All the orders of Canons Regular have as their fundamental guidelines the ancient Rule of St. Augustine, but with supplementary statutes that apply this to times and circumstances.
The Premonstratensian order received approbation by Pope Honorius II, in 1126. At that time they had, in all, nine houses, but by the mid-fourteenth century throughout western Europe there were some 1,300 monasteries for men and 400 for women. The order came to England about 1143, first founding a house in Lincoln known as Newsham (or Newhouse) Abbey. By the early sixteenth century they came to have 35 houses throughout the country, with other houses in Scotland and Ireland. All, like Tupholme Abbey, were wiped out during the Protestant Reformation.
A House of Canons Regular
The abbey was founded in honour of the Annunciation between 1155 and 1165 by Gilbert and Alan de Neville by appeal to the Premonstratensians. As the founding community, an abbot and twelve canons were sent from Newsham Abbey, also in Lincolnshire.
In the Middle Ages, Lincolnshire was one of the most densely populated parts of England. Within the county there were no less than ten Premonstratensian houses. Other than Tupholme Abbey, these were: Barlings Abbey, Broadholme Priory, Cammeringham Priory, Hagnaby Abbey, Newbo Abbey, Newsham Abbey, Orford Priory, Stixwould Priory and West Ravendale Priory.
The original endowment of Tupholme Abbey embraced the demesne at Tupholme and other smaller parcels of land, along with the churches of Burreth, Middle Rasen, Market Stainton, Ranby, and Sturton. Long after the founding endowments, we know that in 1329 Henry, Earl of Lancaster (c. 1281–1345), a grandson of King Henry III (1216–1272), granted the Lincolnshire manor of Burreth, and in 1342 Ralf de Neville donated that of Ranby.