Sawley Abbey is on the Ribble four miles NE of Clitheroe and about 13 miles WSW Skipton. Pendle Hill lowers to the S; the Forest of Bowland rises to the N. The site is low, with the dale nipped by the hills; the climate is mild but wet, more suited to beef and dairy than a monastic diet of cereals and vegetables. It was a small Cistercian abbey of the standard layout, and is now in the care of English Heritage (Coppack, Hayfield and Williams 2002). The precinct can still be traced on the ground, and encompasses the small village of Sawley as well as the ruins. The ruins of the principal buildings of the abbey are enclosed by a high stone wall but are kept open daily. Plan in Coppack, Hayfield and Williams 2002, fig. 4, p. 30 and Fergusson 1984, fig. 23.
The ruins have had almost all useful or carved stone removed. There are three mentions of sculptured stone derived from the abbey and at other sites. Firstly, Morris (1911, 442) says that ‘in the lane outside the grounds are two arches, apparently re-erected; in the masonry round about them are built many carved stones, e.g. A Virgin and Child, the Percy locket and crescent…’; two arches with reset pieces are seen arching over a road in photos in the Bingley Collection in Leeds University History department; a similar arch, with reset carvings on both faces, is now set as a gateway to a field on the E side of the village street just north of the abbey enclosure: there are no Romanesque pieces in this arch (Leach and Pevsner 2009, 684). Secondly, pieces of carved stone are said to be reset in houses in the village, but none were spotted; lastly, some ‘architectural pieces’ are reported in the wall of a barn at Middop Hall, 2½ miles S of Gisburn (Pevsner 1967, 367, with reference to Ministry of Housing and Local Government as source); no enquiries were made for these pieces.
Since coursed stonework has mostly been robbed, Romanesque sculptural remains in situ are chiefly at the bases of archways; there are two loose capitals of the period.
