NHER 1953 (Monument record) - St Mary's Abbey or North Creake Abbey

Founded as Hospital 1189. Priory 1206. Abbey 1231 to 1506.
19th century house within ruins.
E. Rose (NAU), November 1990.

1928. Designated a Scheduled Monument.
See (S1) for full, detailed List Entry, which includes a brief history of the Abbey and a detailed description of the site and the surviving remains.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

1953. Listed, Grade I.
Remains of Creake Abbey Church and Creake Abbey Farmhouse both listed Grade I.
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S2) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

1955-?1957. Excavation.
Carried out by the Ministry of Works beneath late garden walls on the site. This traced the lower courses of the north wall of the nave, with its buttresses and the north doorway. The plan of the missing parts of the north transept of the abbey church was also recorded.
Information from (S3).
The discovery of 14th-century stained glass at North Creake Abbey by Rear-Admiral H.G. Thursford in 1955 is reported in (S4). This glass is now in Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1959.35), which records it has having been found during excavations by the Ministry of Works in 1955.
M. Langham-Lopez (HES), 22 February 2013 and P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

October 1977. Field Observation.
Visited by E. Rose (NAU).
See record cards (S5) for brief description of ruins and farmhouse.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

17 June 1976. NAU Air Photography.
Photographs (S6) reveal cropmarks of two rectangular buildings at right angles to each other north of modern road and overlying an extinct loop of the river - but in entirely the wrong position for a reredorter. Perhaps a mill? West of stream is a faint feature which on an aerial photograph in NCM file taken pre 1934 resembles a square earthwork enclosure.
See also Ordnance Survey photograph (S7).
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU). Information from record card (S5).
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

T. Martin's Church Notes (S8), 18th century, give plan and drawings of abbey, also of a tomb with a cross-coffin-lid, 3' [0.9m] long and part of a marble effigy "…near the stable door".
There is also a plan of 1789 in the Kerrich Additional Manuscripts (S9) at the British Musuem, with a copy in a scrap book in the possession of [1] in 1953 (it is not impossible this is a copy of Martin).
See (S10) for an early documentary discussion of the abbey.
See NHER 1656 for details of stonework at Docking Hall said to come from this site.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 5 August 1980. Information from record card (S5) and revised file notes compiled around 2002 (S11).
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

April 1985. Listed, Grade I.
Garden walls attached to north of Creake Abbey Farmhouse separately listed Grade I.
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S2) for the current listing details.
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

An article published in the Times on 6 December 1986 (S12) reports the discovery of another portion of the mid-14th-century 'Aslake map' of the world (a portion previously found 1911) which it states took its name from Walter Aslake, a Norfolk landowner who rescued the original "…after an arson attack in 1484 on Creek Abbey near Hunstanton". Presumably this site is meant.
[2] confirms a fire here in 1484 - but no known evidence of arson - repairs not finished when the Abbey closed in 1513. An earlier fire happened before 1399.
Compiled by E. Rose (NAU), 8 December 1986. Information from record card (S5).
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

19 July 1994. NLA air photography.
To the north of the scheduled and surveyed area is a continuation of the earthworks.
Consisting of a rectangular ditched enclosure, with several stretches of ditch coming off the main enclosure.
To the east, within the arable field, the main east to west linear ditch can be seen to continue, sweeping down to the south. At the end of this are the parchmarks of a building with at least three cells.
See (S13).
S. Massey (NLA), 30 April 2001.

1997. Metal detecting. See also NHER 28590.
Six medieval, four medieval/post medieval, two early post medieval, three post medieval metal objects.
Early post medieval body sherd.
See lists in file.
K. Hinds (NLA), 13 March 2000.

1997. Metal detecting.
See also NHER 28590. Includes finds from NHER 28590 not separately recorded.
Medieval: bronze seal matrix.
Two strap ends.
Belt mount.
Two bar mounts.
Medieval/post medieval: four rings.
Early post medieval: mount, buckle frame, bodysherd.
Post medieval: three jettons.
See lists in file.
K. Hinds (NLA), 13 March 2000.

March 2000. Earthwork Survey.
Earthwork survey at 1:10000, recording earthworks to northwest and south of the remains of the abbey and farm buildings. The church and surviving claustral was also surveyed. No convincing earthwork features of medieval date were noted in the gardens of the house. The large pond is 19th century, the western one may be for farm use the eastern one now ornamental.
See report (S14) for full details and plan. Site included in (S15) and work also reported in (S16).
B. Cushion (NLA), April 2000.

February 2002. Field Observation.
Abbey Farmhouse examined by E. Rose (NLA).
Externally a 19th-century building within the south cloister range. A partition wall in the ground floor of the west section was stripped, revealing evidence to suggest this part of the building was still an unroofed court in the 17th century and not brought into the house until the 19th century.
See report (S17). This work is also noted in (S18).
Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.

May 2022. Field Observation.
Fragment of glazed red earthenware pancheon retrieved from core of internal wall indicating it is 17th-century insertion.
See details in file.
E. Rose (NLA), 5 June 2002.

The standing and buried remains of the abbey, church and related buildings together with earthwork enclosures and water management features. The foundations of this religious site are unclear. It may have been founded as a private hospital or chapel in the 12th century AD. It became an Augustinian priory in 1206 and was an abbey between 1231 and 1506. Part of the church was rebuilt after a disastrous fire around 1484. The abbey was dissolved after an infectious or epidemical disease carried off all the canons of this small establishment in 1506. In the 19th century a farmhouse was built amongst the ruins. The standing remains of the abbey church are managed by English Heritage and open to the public.
Information from (S19).
M. Dennis (NLA), 8 August

July 2007.
Report from English Heritage (see Notes) of clearance works in the two small triangular fields immediately to the west of the Scheduled/Guardianship Monument. Possibly grubbing out of an orchard. Left with EH to investigate [3].
D.Gurney (NLA), 27 July 2007.

17 October 2008.
Scheduled monument consent granted concerning the repair and replacement of worn stock fencing and installation of new gates.
See (S20) for further information
H. White (NLA) 7 January 2009

October 2011. Watching brief.
A layer containing mortar and medieval and post medieval roof tile was observed during the monitoring of the excavation of postholes for the replacement of an information panel at the west end of the abbey. This material was considered to relate to collapse an repair of the abbey roof at some time, or to the (re-) use of tiles in the post medieval period for farm buildings in the vicinity.
See (S21) for details.
E. Ford (HES), 12 October 2012.

The extent of this record has been extended to better reflect the Scheduled area, which has now been expanded to include additional areas to the north, west and south [4].
P. Watkins (HES), 14 January 2024.