Another big reason for the abbey’s great rise is down to some or the beliefs of people in the 12th century. First of all your wealth was measured on how much land you owned. So instead of rich people giving donations of money to the church (as is the case nowadays) rich men liked to give land. They did not, however, give this land out of kindness (although there probably was some there). Giving land or wealth to the church was seen as being a good deed. They called is a ‘good work’. These donations of land were thought to ease your passage to heaven – thought of as your ‘passport to heaven’ and around the abbey; some land was given to them in other places around the country. For example, the abbey original site in Beckansgill was given to them. It was given to the monks, who had travelled over from France and where staying in Tulketh (which had again been given to them), by Count Stephen. This Count later became King and also gave the abbey land in Bremerton and Flolegate. Only land such as Giggleswick and Stackhouse was given to them by Adam, son of Mildreth, and also Calder, which was given to the abbey by a man called Ranulph de Meschins. So it was a few beliefs that brought all this land to the abbey and consequently a lot of money and wealth.
This brings me to the abbey’s next reason for its growth and gain of wealth. Now the abbey had more land than it needs to build on, this ‘good work land’ (as it was known) was used to bring income into the abbey. The lay monks (of which there were around 500) were very good farmers and the land given to them was especially conducive to one particular type of framing: sheep farming. This brought in a lot of money to the abbey; through the sale of sheep and the abbey’s main produce wool. The lay monks were not stationed at Furness; many lived on granges (the old English for farm) near to their work. This is one of the reasons why the abbey’s farming was so successful, because each lay monk was concentrating on his own little job. (The main lay monk Headquarters was at Hawkshead.)
The lay monks not only farmed sheep and kept animals, but also one or two arable farms were set up on what flat land they had. The best example of this is Walney Island. It was used as a huge crop growing area by the abbey. Also, the lay monks had some cattle, pig and fish farms around the county.
Much of this produce was sold at Dalton Market. However, some of it was traded with other parts of the country. The different abbots were very keen on expanding trade routes. So much so that by the 13th century the abbey was trading with the Isle of Man, Ireland and even Belgium and Holland. This was a vital source of income for the abbey and was taken very seriously by the abbots. For this reason, the abbey wanted to monitor the trade progress, so houses in London, York and Boston were bought.
Another relatively small, reason for the abbeys wealth was the different abbots cheating their way out of taxes. This was done mostly to help the profits of their trading. In the 14th and 15th century there was a law that any cargo being transported overseas was taxed. There are two accounts of an abbot of Furness abbey trying to dodge this tax. One in 1347 where the abbot was accused of smuggling wool from a base on Piel Island without paying the tax. Again in 1423 a different abbot of Furness was caught smuggling (again from Piel Island) wine in and wool out without paying any tax. This wasn’t a source of income, but will have saved the abbey quite a bit of money, because who knows how much smuggling they got away with?
There were two other sources of income for the abbey. One of which was mining. In the 13th century Roger of Orgrave gave his iron ore mines to the abbey and so some of the lay monks became involved in mining and also smelting the iron ore. The other source was the general skill of the lay monks. They were great engineers. One example of their work was that they redirected the river going through the valley to go through the abbey itself and give them fresh running water. Also in 1220 the lay monks drained the Roose mashes and gave rise to Sarahbeck. However, their greatest achievement was connecting Walney Island to the main land. They built Biggar Dyke, which was a row of stones and boulders with an earth mound over them. This allowed carts to be driven over to Walney (which was very important because of the crop farms there) and is a good example of the lay monks building sea defences.
The most important reason for the abbey becoming one of the richest Cistercian Abbeys in England was probably the belief that giving money to the church was good for the sole. If this had not been common (i.e. rich people giving land to the church) most of the abbey’s land would not have been the abbey’s. This is also linked to all the abbey’s income. For example, if the abbey had not been given all the land they used for sheep framing then the profits from that would not have existed. Most of their trading would not have taken place, thus diminishing their financial growth. I also think the other big reason for the abbey’s power was the site itself. Being in a valley it was quite hard to attack. This had allowed it to remain (more or less untouched) for many years and therefore allowed it to grow and expand. However, this is again linked to the belief that people had about ‘good works’. For this reason I think that the religious beliefs people had was the main factor in the abbey becoming one of the richest abbeys of its order in the country.
