Geograph - photograph every grid square

Following a grant of land in 1165, an abbey was founded here by Premonstratensian monks (who wore white habits); they were given more land in 1214, at which point the abbey was called Blanchland. After the Reformation, the property came into the hands of the Forster family. In 1699 a Dorothy Forster married Lord Crewe, the Bishop of Durham. She later inherited half of the Forster estates; Lord Crewe subsequently bought the rest, and on his death in 1721 left the estates to trustees who rebuilt the village and the abbey’s church. See also NY9650 : Sign for the Lord Crewe Arms Hotel, Blanchland photographed by Trish Steel.