~ Lacock Abbey ~

 

 

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Lacock Abbey, in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. Her husband was William Longespee, an illegitimate son of King Henry II.

Lacock Abbey prospered throughout the Middle Ages.  The rich farmlands which it had received from Ela ensured it a sizeable income from wool.

Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the mid 16th century, Henry VIII sold it to Sir William Sharrington, who converted it into a house, starting in 1539 and demolishing the abbey church.

 Few other alterations were made to the monastic buildings themselves, and the cloisters still stand below the living accomodation.

Lacock Abbey and the surrounding village were given to the National Trust in 1944.  The Trust market the abbey and village together as "Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum & Village."

Lacock appears in the "Robin Hood and the Sorceror", "Cromm Cruac" and "The Pretender" episodes of Robin of Sherwood.  It also doubles as Thornton Abbey in our story "Fathers, Brothers, Sons," where Tuck spent much of his adult life, and where Timothy was raised.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-lacockabbeyvillage.htm