Northampton Abbey

The St James Abbey, also known as Northampton Abbey, was founded in Northampton in 1104–05 by William Peverel, as a house of Augustinian canons, and was dedicated to St James. William Peverel endowed it with some forty acres in nearby Duston, the church of Duston, and the parish's mill. The abbey's endowments were quickly increased and within a century the abbey was in possession of ten churches, mostly in Northamptonshire; in addition to these, the abbey also held farms, or received rents from some thirty different parishes in the county. One account concerning the abbey notes, "On the forfeiture of Peverel the manor of Duston was granted by Henry II to Walkelin de Duston, who afterwards adopted the religious habit and entered the abbey of St James, of which he subsequently became abbot." The abbey church was rebuilt on a large scale during the reign of King Edward I and completed in around 1310. By the time of the dissolution it was reported that the monastery was well kept, the community held in high esteem and with a lot of good done for the poor of the area. Nonetheless, it was dissolved in 1538 and granted to Nicholas Giffard who converted the buildings into a mansion. The abbey was located in the Abbots Way area, off the south side of Weedon Road in the town. The former Express Lift factory including the lift-testing tower, was redeveloped for housing in 1999–2000. The s

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