Furness Abbey

Weather: Sunny and bright, 15oC.

Not a fell walk on this warm and sunny afternoon but a lovely stroll around the ruins of Furness Abbey. Set in the Vale of Deadly Nightshade, the abbey was founded in 1123 by Stephen, Count of Blois, later King Stephen. It has long been perceived as a very romantic building, Wordsworth visited the abbey on several occasions and referred to it in his Prelude of 1805….

For any cautious man, a Structure famed

Beyond its neighbourhood, the antique Walls

Of that large Abbey which within the vale

Of Nightshade, to St. Mary’s honour built,

Stands yet, a mouldering Pile, with fractured Arch,

Belfry, and Images, and living Trees….