Introduction

In 1098, a group of malcontents led by a French monk, Robert de Molesme, broke away from the Cluniac dominated monastic world and founded an Hulton abbey at Citeaux in Burgundy, France. The order maintained strict rules according to the terms of the Carta Cariiatis which was read at all meetings of the Chapter General, an annual meeting of Cistercian abbots, normally held at Citeaux on the Vigil of the Holy Cross on 13 September. According to the Victoria County History for Staffordshire 'few of these monasteries had more than local significance, and some of them lacked even that'. In 1884, workmen employed by the owner, Revd Walter Sneyd, to repair drains at the farm are reputed to have accidentally discovered fragments of abbey stone. Sneyd ordered further excavations and Charles Lynam became involved. In the 1987–94 excavation one former trench across the nave was located and re-excavated.