Vale Royal Abbey is a medieval abbey, and later a country house, located in Whitegate, between Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, England. During its 278-year period of operation, it had at least 21 abbots (possibly 22).
The abbey was founded in 1270 by Prince Edward for monks of the austere Cistercian order. Edward intended the abbey to be on the grandest scale. However, financial difficulties meant that these ambitions could not be fulfilled and the final building was considerably smaller than planned. The project ran into problems in other ways. The abbey was frequently grossly mismanaged, relations with the local population were so poor as to regularly cause outbreaks of large-scale violence on a number of occasions, and internal discipline was frequently bad.
| Image | Name | From | To | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walter | c. 1270 | Probably oversaw the move from the original foundation at Darnhall to Vale Royal. | ||
| Henry | c. 1275 | Although these dates are given by the Victoria County History,[1] nothing more—in fact, nothing at all—is known of this Henry, and it has been suggested that it was in fact a scribal error for Walter, above, and so may never have actually existed.[2][3] | ||
| John Chaumpeneys | c. 1275 | c. 1289 | First abbot of the re-sited Abbey. | |
| Walter of Hereford | c. 1294 | c.1307 | ||
| John of Hoo | c. 1308-9 | c. 1314-15 | ||
| Richard of Evesham | 1316 | 1322 | ||
| Peter | 1322 | 1339 | Murdered in office. | |
| Robert de Cheyneston | 1340 | 1349 | ||
| Thomas | 1351 | 1369 | ||
| Stephen | c. 1373 | c. 1400 | ||
| John | 1405 | 1411 | ||
| Thomas Oxenford | 1414 | 1418 | ||
| Henry Arrowsmith | 1428 | 1437 | Died in office. | |
| Thomas Kirkham | 1438-9 | 1475 | ||
| William Stratford | 1476 | 1494 | ||
| Thomas | 1485 | 1496 | ||
| William Stratford | 1498 | 1504 | ||
| Richard | 1505 | |||
| William Stratford | 1509 | 1517 | ||
| John Butler | 1517 | 1529 | Removed from office. | |
| William | 1529 | |||
| John Butler | 1530 | 1535 | Restored; died in office. | |
| John Hareware | 1535 | 1538 | (surname possibly Harwood) Surrendered the abbey during the dissolution. |