Tirwhit retained the abbot's lodging as a house and converted the cloister into a garden. In later years, the lodging and garden became ruins along with the remainder of the former abbey.[5]
Excavations from 1909 through 1914 revealed the layout of Bardney Abbey. This can still be seen, though nothing remains to any height. Further excavations and conservation took place in 2009[6] and 2011.[7] Some grave slabs and carved stones are preserved in Bardney parish church, which is dedicated to St Lawrence.[8][9] The abbey site is now owned by the charity the Jews' Court and Bardney Abbey Trust.[10]
Bede relates that Bardney Abbey (which he called Beardaneu)[11] was greatly loved by Osthryth, queen of Mercia, and in about 679 she sought to move the bones of her uncle, the very pious St Oswald, to there.[12] However, when the body was brought to the Abbey the monks refused to accept it, because the Abbey was in the Kingdom of Lindsey, and Oswald, when king of Northumbria, had once conquered them. The relics were locked outside, but during the night a beam of light appeared and shone from his bier reaching up into the heavens. The monks declared that it was a miracle and accepted the body, hanging the King's Purple and Gold banner over the tomb.[11] They are also said to have removed the great doors to the Abbey so that such a mistake could not occur again. So if someone said "do you come from Bardney?", it meant that you had left the door open.[13][14][15]
As well as the wondrous light, other miracles were associated with the remains of King Oswald. The bones at Bardney were washed before interment and ground into which the water was poured supposedly gained great healing powers.[16] In another tale from Bede, a boy with the Ague kept vigil by the tomb and was cured.[17] The King's heads and hands had been separately interred, for he had been dismembered in battle.[16] A fragment of the stake on which his head had been impaled was later used to cure a man in Ireland.[18]
Brakespear H (1922) "Bardney Abbey" Archaeological Journal Vol. 79,1-92.
New, Anthony (1985). A guide to the abbeys of England and Wales. Constable. pp. 44–45. ISBN0-09-463520-X. OCLC246863338.
"Bardney Abbey". Bardney Village History. Bardney Heritage Group. 2013. Archived from the original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 4 April 2013. Includes finds record and floor plan from 1909 excavation.
Laing, Charles Edward (1913). Some notes on Bardney Abbey.
An organisation called The Association of friends of Bardney Abbey existed from 1975 to 1993,[22] and published a number of monographs in the 1970s whose titles and authors are listed by a number of internet sources but the actual works are more elusive.
^Heighway, Carolyn (2001). "Gloucester and the new minster of St Oswald". In Higham, N. J.; Hill, D. H. (eds.). Edward the Elder 899-924. Routledge. p. 108.
