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| Norman arch at Furness |
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| Arches at Savigny le Vieux |
In 1123 twelve monks set off from the mother church of Savigny in Normandy to found a religious house in England. This was one of many houses which were set up by the Savigniac order. They first arrived in Tulketh near Preston and from there surveyed possible sites for their venture. Land was granted to them by Stephen Duke of Boulogne and Mortain and the monks travelled to the Furness peninsula and rested in the Vale of Nightshade.
The process of building an abbey was a long one. The original Savigniac abbey is only just appearing from the shadows at Furness. Small hints and glimpses can still be seen if you look really hard. The original church-which is always central to any abbey was a different design to the one we see today, in style and structure. Evidence has been found of an apsidal presbytery and the style is Romanesque or Norman and we can see the round arches, the chevron patterns and simple symmetry.
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| Detail of pattern from arch at Savigny |
This is masked by the later styles and the subsequent changes, but here and there to this day one can spot remnants of the earlier church. Comparisons can be made with the architecture of the Abbaye de Savigny le Vieux where the monks came from. The order of Savigny was superseded in 1143 when it merged with the Cistercian order. The lifestyle of these orders were based upon prayer and manual labour allowing the abbeys to be financially independent. The Savigniac and Cistercian orders are known as white monks and this arose from the white woollen habits which they wore with black scapula and cowl.
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| St Vital |
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Carved Norman Arch at Furness   |
