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Cockersand Abbey began as a hermitage in about 1180 AD and became an Abbey of the Premonsatensian order ten years later. In 1539 the Abbot and twenty-two Canons surrendered to the King’s Commissioners and it has lain in ruins ever since.
This lonely and windswept place was the hermitage of Hugh Garth (“a hermit of great perfection”) in 1180 AD. His reputation led to the establishment on the site first of a hospital for the sick and lepers and then within ten years to a priory of Premonsatensian Canons who took their name from the French Abbey of Premontré. In turn the priory became well enough endowed to gain the rank of an Abbey. It owned property over much of Lancashire and in the Lake District too, as well as the area to its north and south including Crook and Bank Houses.