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Star (Christchurch), Issue 18614, 16 November 1928, Page 10

Furness Abbey, whose ruins are so greatly admired to-day, was founded by Stephen, Count of Boulogne and Mortain, w T ho became afterwards King of England. He gave a grant of land to Geoffrey, second Abbot of the Benedictine house at Savigny, France. Stephen's charter gave “to God and St Mary of Furness all Furness and Walney, with Dalton and all by Lordship in Furness and Ulverston.” Hence by feudal right the Abbot of Furness became the ruler over the whole of that region; and the manner in which gifts and further grants of land were showered upon the monastery, until it became one of the greatest in the country, shows that its powers were exercised wisely, and that its influence was appreciated. The building of the abbey began in 1127, and it was not completed until the late fifteenth century. There is no evidence of such corruption as was made a pretext for Henry VIII.’s attack upon it and its final dissolution in 1537.