Cockersand Abbey, Thurnham, Lancashire
These are the remains of a Premonstratensian Abbey. The most visible remains are those of the 13th century chapter house. Hugh Garthe settled at Cockersand in around 1180 and founded a hermitage. Documentary sources indicate that by about 1184 this had become a hospital. By about 1189 it was a monastic hospital dedicated to St Mary. In c1192 Cockersand was an abbey of the Premonstratensian Order and functioned as such until its Dissolution in 1539. The reason for the chapter house's survival is that it was converted into a burial chamber for the Dalton family of Thurnham Hall. It was used as a mausoleum from the mid-18th to the mid-19th centuries.
