Monument record MDR2482 - Chapel and grange (site of), Birchinlee East Plantation, Derwent Reservoir

At Abbey Grange is one of four chapels associated with the grange established by Welbeck Abbey after 1200 A.D. A portion of the grange is incorporated into the present farmhouse and the chapel was immediately to the south of the present building. (1) A large tract of land in Derwent Woodlands was given to the Abbey of Welbeck by John, Earl of Mortaigne, and afterwards King of England, and Oliver de Longford. The monks were of the Premonstratensian Order, and devoted much of their time to the cultivation of the land. They had a grange here, a portion of which still remains and is used as a farmhouse, known as the Abbey. They also erected four chapels on various parts of this estate. At the Reformation, these lands passed in to lay hands. (2) There were formerly four chapels on the extensive monastic estate owned by Welbeck Abbey in North Derbyshire. The chapels would have been used according to the change of the seasons and where labour was in most demand. One of these chapels was situated at Abbey Grange, three miles upstream on the same side of the stream as the Derwent chapel (see SMR 4663). A portion of the ancient grange is still standing and is inhabited as a farmhouse. The foundations of the more extensive establishment can be readily traced. The chapel seems to have stood immediately to the south of the present building. At the dissolution they would have suffered from neglect and disuse. (3) Abbey Grange has been known as 'Onemanfeld', as 'Homans House' in 1535, as 'One mans house' in 1558, as 'Abbey' in 1653 and as 'One Mans House alias Abbey' in 1656. The site appears to have formerly been a hermitage, perhaps in association with Welbeck Abbey, of which the modern name is reminiscent. (5)