Cronk Abbey

Cronk Abbey was a small monastery located on the Peel Godred Branch Line. The Cronk Abbey School is located here.

History
The Abbey was founded around 1150 as a daughter house of Furness Abbey on the Mainland. The Abbot of Cronk was in charge of the Abbey and became the highest religious figure on Sodor.

After Sodor was annexed by England in 1404, the then Abbot of Cronk was appointed co-Governor of the Island, alongside Sir Arnold de Normanby by King Henry VI. At the same time, a man named Arnold was a Monk at the Abbey, who wrote a chronicle of Sodor's history between the Abbey's founding and then. This Chronicle is now held at the Island Records Office.

As part of the Reformation, the Abbey was dissolved in 1540 by order of King Henry VIII. The former Abbot, now Bishop of Suddery, Michael Colden and Sir Geoffrey Regaby, the King's Agent, ensured that former Abbey revenues were retained for the benefit of the Church and the Island. These revenues were used for the foundation and endowment of schools, churches and parishes where most greatly needed on the Island and in these many of the former brethren of the Abbey, both lay and clerical, found employment.

The former monastery itself came into the possession of Sir Geoffrey, who turned part of the Abbey into a mansion and founded and endowed a Grammar School in some of the remainder. The Mansion became the seat of the Regaby family and is noted for its large library, while the school is now a recognised Public School.