Abbeystead is a hamlet located in the civil and ecclesiastical parish of Over Wyresdale and lies close to the Trough of Bowland.

Home Farm, Abbeystead Estate

But even in medieval times, was considered part of Wyresdale rather than within the domain of that powerful local magnate, the Lord of Bowland.

Little is known of the history of Abbeystead before the Norman Conquest, except that it was occupied from at least the middle of the prehistoric period.

Farm Cottage (Post House & Post Office)

The name Abbeystead is derived from “the site of the abbey” and relates to the short-lived presence of a house of Cistercian monks from Furness Abbey between c.1192 and 1204.

This 19th century Grade II Listed Bridge carries Strait Lane over the Tarnbrook Wyre. The photograph above shows Stoops Bridge approaching Abbeystead Village on Strait Lane from the north east.

It is made of sandstone, and consists of two elliptical arches with triangular cutwaters, and has a solid parapet with a rounded top.

Having just crossed Stoops Bridge over Tarnbrook Wyre towards Abbeystead Village you come across Stoops Cottages.

The first cottage closest to the road was once named ‘Bridge House’ The Old School Masters House.

Carrying on past the Stoop Cottages towards the village centre on the left hand side of Strait Lane is the Over Wyresdale Parish Hall. Opened by His Grace, the Duke of Westminster, on August 11th 2007.

The purpose-built hall and grounds were provided with the generous support of Grosvenor Estates, with funding from the Lancashire County Council programme for Community Resource Centres.

The school is a late 19th century Grade II listed Building. It is built of sandstone with a slate roof, and is a single storey.

There are two projections toward the road, one gabled, the other smaller with a hipped roof. The windows have elliptical heads, and are mullioned or mullioned and transomed. On the west gable of the main range is a bellcote.

The photograph above is of Cawthorne’s Endowed School approaching from the west on Abbeystead Road from Lower Green Bank.

Opposite Cawthorne’s Endowed School on a wall outside of Home Farm, Abbeystead Estate, is this drinking trough.

This 1887 Grade II listed building close to Stoops Bridge, a lodge to Abbeystead House by Douglas and Fordham in Elizabethan style, is built in sandstone with a slate roof, and has an L-shaped plan with two storeys.

The windows are mullioned, and the doorway has a moulded surround and a shaped lintel inscribed with the date.

Brow House near Stoops Bridge was built in 1937 for the agent of Hugh William Osbert Molyneux, 7th Earl of Sefton (22 December 1898 – 13 April 1972) who was the last Earl of Sefton.

His family seats were Croxteth Hall and Abbeystead House in Lancashire, he also held the Wyresdale Forest, an estate in the Forest of Bowland.

York Lodge, a lodge to Abbeystead House, built in 1890, is a Grade II listed building in sandstone with a hipped slate roof.

It is a single storey, and contains mullioned windows. Facing the road is a hipped wing and a chamfered doorway, and facing the drive is a canted bay window.

(Photographed on Monday 11th November 2024)