Burton Abbey

Burton Abbey was mentioned in the Domesday Book when it was said to control lands in Mickleover, Appleby Magna in Leicestershire, Winshill and Stapenhill in Staffordshire, Coton in the Elms, Caldwell and Ticknall. The abbey itself was neither large nor wealthy and in 1310 its monks claimed it to be the smallest and poorest Benedictine monastery in England. It suffered frequent financial troubles throughout its existence, often due to mismanagement and outright criminal behaviour, although the situation seems to have been resolved by the 16th century. In the 13th to 14th centuries there were around thirty monks in residence. This had fallen to almost half that number by the 1520s. Despite…