ACROSS LAKELAND - A Northern Coast to Coast Walk: From St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay - page 47

The abbey at Shap was one of the many monastic houses established in England during
the 12th century. It belonged to an order founded by the German Saint Norbert, and
owes its foundation to a baron named Thomas son of Gospatric, who held lands in
Westmorland of William of Lancaster, the feudal lord of Kendale and Wyresdale.
Towards the end of his life, Thomas son of Gospatric made arrangements for the es-
tablishment of an abbey on his own estates at Preston in Kendale, but before his death
in 1201 he changed his mind, and instead granted the canons a site 20 miles further
north on the banks of the Lowther. He gave them leave to quarry stone and to fell tim-
ber on his land. The place where the abbey was founded was then known as 'Hepp',
meaning 'a heap', and referring to the megalithic stone circle today known as Shap
Stones. Less than a hundred years later the name had changed from 'Hepp' to 'Hiap',
and then to 'Shap'.
The new abbey was dedicated to St Mary Magdelene and sometimes referred to as 'St
Mary Magdelene in the Valley'. Very little is known about the history of the abbey. The
order was of Premonstratensian monks, and intended for those who wished to com-
bine the life of prayer and discipline of a monk with parish work as priests serving local
communities. Such men were known as 'White Canons', from the colour of the habits
they wore. The history of such monastic orders in England closes during the reign of
Henry VIII, with the end for Shap coming on 14 January 1540, when the last abbot
surrendered the abbey's possessions to the representatives of the Crown. For his co-
operation, perhaps, he was compensated with what was then the comfortable pension
of £40 per year, his canons receiving smaller sums, sufficient at any rate for their sub-
sistence.
The abbey's lands were sold by the Tudor government to Sir Thomas Wharton, the
governor of Carlisle, but in 1729, after the forfeiture of the Jacobite Duke of Wharton,
they were purchased by Richard Lowther, of Mauld's Meaburn Hall. In 1948 the Lowth-
er Estates Limited, as representatives of his descendant, Lancelot Edward Lowther, 6th
Earl of Lonsdale, placed the abbey ruins in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works
(now the Department of the Environment) for preservation as an ancient monument.
Access is now permitted by the new custodians, English Heritage.
From the point where the car park access road and another road to the ab-
bey meet, the right-of-way that the route follows turns abruptly upwards,
climbing steeply up a pasture. The obvious access road is a much gentler
gradient, but is not a right-of-way. At the top, a cattle-grid marks the start
of road surfacing, as a narrow lane leads out to Brampton road at a bend.
From this point there are three ways into Shap.
(a) The longest simply follows the road ahead as it winds round into the
northern end of Shap.
(b) The shortest turns immediately right at the road bend onto a walled
path to Keld Lane. This narrow route is often wet and muddy for about
200m, improving thereafter as it heads for Keld Lane, another narrow,
surfaced lane. Here, turn left for a short distance to the next corner, then
go right at a footpath signpost along a walled track, but only for around