St Catherine's Chapel, Lydiate
N 53° 32.207 W 002° 57.673
30U E 502570 N 5931986
Parking can be found in the nearby Scotch Piper Pub which is the oldest pub in Lancashire. Access to the Abbey is from the main road via a public footpath
Waymark Code: WM74DD
Location: North West England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/31/2009
Views: 8
St Catherine's Church is also known as Lydiate Abbey. It is belived to have been built c1500 and abandoned about 50 years later. Only the ruins of the abbey exist today.It is 1 of only 2 surviving private chapels in South West Lancashire and it is now a grade II listed building and scheduled monument and is included in the Lydiate Hall and Chapel Conservation area.
Lydiate Abbey was buile for the private worship of the Ireland family, Lords of the Manore of Lydiate from c1410 - 1673
Initials of Lawrence Ireland and his wife, Catherine Blundell can be found on the porch of the abbey. Ireland Family were very influential in the area in the 15th century and Lydiate Hall was built sometime around 1470. The eastern part of the Hall was destroyed about 1780, and the Hall was abandoned completely by the late 1800s. Only ruins exist today.
The abbey appears to have been abandoned when the practice of the Catholic religion was prohibited. Local legend holds that a tunnel exists between the Abbey and the Hall to allow the escape of a priest. Another local legend states that the tunnel was between the Abbey and the Scotch Piper pub (now a grade 2 listed building)in order to allow monks to escape the public house. However, there is no documented evidence of this. The adjacent graveyard was used by local Catholic families into the later 1800s.
Building Materials: Stone
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Visit Instructions:
Logs for Medieval churches waymark must contain a date found and any details about the visit there. Also photos and other experiences related to the building are welcome.