The Ruins of Roche Abbey
A round walk starting from Maltby to Roche Abbey through Hooton Levitt and Laughton-en-le-Morthen. Part two.
Refreshed from the short break beneath the sign for Brookhouse village I consulted my walking guide and set off for Laughton-en-le-Morthen. The abbey still lay ahead an unknown distance along footpaths that, if like the ones encountered previously, would take some creative interpretation to stay on course. The route outlined in the guide led me along the quiet Brookhouse Road, leading over a train line that I had walked over countless times where it passes under Tickhill Road on the outskirts of Maltby by the colliery, on my way to work.
Rounding a bend the spire of All Saints church, that had been a beacon on the landscape all the way back from Hooton Levitt, dominated the quiet country road.
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| The distinctive spire of All Saints Church, Laughton-en-le-Morthen. |
The village has Saxon roots but was mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Lastone". There are a couple of theories on the origin of the name Laughton-en-le-Morthen, my personal favourite due it's somewhat grim romanticism, is that it comes from the old French for "place of death" literally "en le morthen". My guide book mentions vaguely that a battle occurred somewhere near. Well, such an amazing and evocative name must have sprung from something a little more note-worthy than a local scuffle. And I was amazed to discover that the surrounding area is thought to be the site for the Battle of Brunanburh that happened in 937 AD.
I have to confess I've never heard of the Battle of Brunanburh and I have no knowledge of this period of history, but when I started this blog with the idea of taking photos and learning about local history I never imagined it would be so interesting. Game of Thrones is all very well but this really happened!
Æthelstan, grandson of Alfred the Great, was King of the West Saxons and King of the English from 927 until his death in 939 AD and is regarded by historians as the first King of England after conquering the last Viking kingdom of York, as well as accepting the submission of the Scottish and Welsh Kings in 927.
The Battle of Brunanburh in 937 was a major victory for Æthelstan over the Celtic and Norse coalition army made up of Scottish, Welsh, Irish and Viking warriors, thus decisively forging the unified Kingdom of England. Although the Vikings briefly made a come back after his death before being finally defeated.
Contemporary accounts describe the enormous battle as horrific and bloody, each side is estimated to have had a force of about 15,000 men, while documents and poems suggest that at least five kings fell and that many noblemen were amongst the dead.
The fate of those fallen men is left in no doubt:
"Then the dark raven with horned beak,
and the livid toad, the eagle and kite,
the hound and wolf in mottled hue,
were long refreshed by these delicacies.
In this land no greater war was ever waged,
nor did such a slaughter surpass that one."
Henry of Huntingdon, History of the English, trans. Scott Thompson Smith.
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| All Saints Church, Laughton-en-le-Morthen. The site began as a simple Saxon church in 937 that was destroyed between 1069 - 1070 presumably in the turbulent times after the Norman Conquest of 1066. Rebuilt by the Normans in 1190 but was again destroyed in 1322. The church you see now was built around 1377. |
The walking guide route directed me to walk a few yards into the village itself, past the striking All Saints Church, the distinctive tower is 150 feet tall or just over 56 metres. I turned down on to Hooton Lane looking for a public footpath on the right that would take me along another ridge to the site of Roche Abbey.
Having found the footpath's signpost clearly pointing the way along the boundary of a house I proceeded confidently over the stile but found myself, much to my surprise actually in someone's back garden and with their patio doors wide open, complete with the family dog snoozing on the lawn!
Frozen to the spot convinced I was about to be either savaged or rugby-tackled to the ground by an irate home-owner I double checked behind me that the signpost had pointed me in the right direction, which it had. Looking in front of me I could just make out a boundary that had been absorbed by the flowerbed and on the far low wall, a stepping stone stile leading to a scrappy patch of open land.
Tip-toeing quietly past the sleeping dog while trying to look like an innocent walker instead of a peeping-tom or burglar I made it over the wall and tried to make out the route of the footpath, which clearly didn't see much traffic.
A number of features mentioned in the walking guide were completely missing from the patch of land in front of me but I carried on, working from best guesses and the odd waymark poking out from hedgerows or hidden beneath tangles of brambles and nettles.
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| Waymarks, the bemused walker's best friend. England alone has over 118,000 miles of public rights of way. Waymarks are yellow for footpaths, open to walkers; blue for bridleways, open to walkers, horse-riders and cyclists. |
I was headed towards some woodland called King's Wood but the rolling landscape prevented me from seeing too far in front of me, a couple of times I had strayed completely off the guide book's route but I strangely enjoyed the challenge of thinking out the best way forward. It certainly provided the opportunity to relearn the skills of map reading but also the more important skill of reading the landscape, it struck me somewhat obviously perhaps, that the features on the map aren't just pretty lines and nice names but they relate directly to the landscape. I found it satisfying looking at and interpreting the landscape to tell me that I was moving in the right direction, eventually the footpath became clearer and the rolling hills of farmland gave superb views, including my old friend the Maltby colliery on the far horizon.
By now it was late afternoon and sun had become quite fierce so I was relieved to see the dark shadow of King's Wood finally come into view.
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| Yew tree, Taxus baccata, one of many in King's Wood. |
King's Wood was soothing and cool after being out in the sun on the ridge, it came as a relief because I knew that the Abbey lay on the far edges of the wood. Birds sang from the branches around me, the atmosphere of the wood was peaceful and still, in the whole walk so far I had encountered only four people; I stopped for a few moments to appreciate the tranquillity when I noticed that many of the trees were yews.
It's unusual to find so many yew trees in one spot, they seemed to form an avenue through the wood and I reflected on the melancholy feel that this part of the wood seemed to have. The yew has a long association with death and churchyards; in many cultures it is a symbol of immortality while in others it is taken as an omen of doom. One of the oldest wooden artefacts in the world is a spear made of yew found in Essex, which is estimated to be 200,000 years old. There are apparently over 500 churchyards in England that have yew trees that are older than the actual church itself suggesting a long history between the yew and our sacred sites, in my own opinion one that almost certainly pre-dates Christianity. I like yews because I see them as living links to our most ancient past, in fact I gave one gnarled yew a friendly pat as I imagined what changes it must have out-lived in the surrounding landscape.
The sound of rushing water gradually became louder as I skirted a large open pond and by a waterfall I had my first glimpse of the ruined Roche Abbey through the dwindling trees.
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| The cascade of water that could be heard from within the wood. |
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| Roche Abbey, viewed from the periphery of King's Wood. |
The site itself was closed but there's a wide footpath that completely circles the ruins, providing fantastic views from every angle. I particularly liked the monolithic gatehouse that marks the entrance to the site.
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| Roche Abbey gatehouse. |
Curiously for such a magnificent site that really appeals to your sense of imagination there's not too much history to find about the site. Founded in 1147 and built in the Norman Gothic style the Abbey was built and governed by a confusing tangle of local key Norman noblemen, controlled by the de Vesci family, Lords of Rotherham but sub-feuded to the Lord of Wickersley, Richard FitzTurgis.
Purpose built for the Order of Cistercians, also called the White Monks on account of their white habit, the Cistercians were noted for their emphasis on self-sufficiency and manual labour. From what I understand, which is not much, they broke away from the Benedictine Order in the late 11th century to follow a more austere way of life.
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| The local community at the time of the Abbey's dissolution mined the buildings for any material of value including stone, lead and timber. |
There are some romantic stories attached to the site, legends of hidden tunnels, ghostly phantom apparitions and also due to the proximity of old Sherwood Forest, rumours that Robin Hood attended mass here.
The fall of Roche Abbey happened in 1538 because of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the systematic closure of monasteries and seizure of their assets for the Crown by Henry VIII between 1536 and 1541.
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| Roche Abbey in the late afternoon sunlight, absolutely deserted. |
Roche Abbey was worth the time and effort spent reaching it, the atmosphere that late afternoon was almost otherworldly it was easy to imagine the site in it's full glory and what it must have been like to live there as part of a small community.
I reluctantly heeded the call to return to the modern world and retraced my footsteps to the gatehouse. The long way home was through the car park then followed the footpath by a stream back to Maltby and St. Bartholomew's Church.
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| All the other photos have been a little grey so here's a splash of colour. |
I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of the walk, some photos were a little underwhelming when I got back home but that reflects my technique rather than the places I'd visited. I'll definitely return to Roche Abbey.
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| Back where the walk started, St. Bartholomew's Church, Maltby. |
Post Script.
I've made every effort to get names and dates correct, while trying to maintain a level of general interest. Naturally, history is open to interpretation and I would like to note that I've favoured Laughton-en-le-Morthen as the site of the Battle of Brunanburh but there are other places where the battle is thought to have occurred. It's a long post, hopefully not too dry and boring.
Thank you for reading.
