Abbaye de Blanchelande, Premonstratensian abbey ruins in Neufmesnil, France.
Abbaye de Blanchelande is a Premonstratensian monastery founded in the 12th century, now partly in ruins. Its surviving 12th-century Romanesque refectory, the 13th-century Porte Saint-Nicolas, and the 16th-century abbot's lodging stand alongside 18th-century classical convent buildings. The abbey church was demolished in 1845, leaving only its bell tower.
The monastery was founded in the mid-12th century and received its formal dedication shortly after 1185. It served as an important religious center in the region for many centuries, inhabited and maintained by different communities over time.
The abbey gave its name in 1163 to Blanchland Abbey and village in Northumberland, founded by Premonstratensian canons from here. The founders, Richard de La Haye and Mathilde de Vernon, were buried near the choir of the abbey church. In the 1990s a British owner briefly ran a nightclub in the chapel.
The remains stand in open country 1.4 km east of Neufmesnil, south of Mont Étenclin, reached by a rural lane; there is no visitor infrastructure, so plan for uneven ground and no shelter. The 13th-century Porte Saint-Nicolas, restored in the 15th century, marks the entrance to the former enclosure, and the abbey house, finished in 1740, stands within it.
In 1163 Blanchelande gave its name to the Cistercian abbey and village of Blanchland in Northumberland, founded by Premonstratensian canons from here. The abbey was sold at auction in 2011 for €920,000. In the 1990s a British owner briefly ran a nightclub in the chapel.
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