Did you know? England's biggest monastic gatehouse is near Ulceby
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XDid you know? North Lincolnshire has England's largest and most impressive surviving monastic gatehouse. It's at Thornton Abbey, near Thornton Curtis.
Not London. Not York. Near Ulceby.
Take that. It was founded as a priory in 1139 by William le Gros, Earl of Yorkshire, and became an abbey in 1148. The canons got rich from the local wool trade.
By 1534 its annual income was £591, a fortune at the time. Then Henry VIII closed it in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Classic Henry.
The gatehouse is one of the earliest large-scale uses of brick in England. It's three storeys high and still structurally intact. Both the ruins and the nearby Abbot's Lodge are Grade I listed.
SRN Verdict
It's now cared for by English Heritage, and visits must be booked in advance. A medieval castle-sized gatehouse, on our doorstep. And most of us have never been.
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