Hiking Highlight
Recommended by 15 hikers
Once second only to Fountains Abbey in Yorkshire in terms of wealth and power, Furness Abbey was a Cistercian monastery of great importance. Today, it is an impressive sandstone ruin and an evocative vestige of former glory.
The site contains a number of Grade I-listed buildings and is a Scheduled Monument. Built in 1123, it is located in the Vale of Nightshade to the south of Dalton. It was passed to the Cistercians in 1147.
During their time here, the Cistercians built the nearby Piel Castle on Piel Island to oversee trade between the Furness Peninsula and another of their strongholds: the Isle of Man. On the orders of Henry VIII, the abbey was destroyed 1537.
February 8, 2021
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