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A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of Holme Abbey from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales:
- "ABBEY-HOLME, or Abbey-Town, a township and a [registration] subdistrict in Wigton district, Cumberland. The township is in the parish of Holme-Cultram; and lies on the river Waver, and on the Carlisle and Silloth railway, near the head of Morecambe bay, 6 miles WNW of Wigton. It has a station of the name of Abbey on the rail way, and a post office of the name of Abbey-Town under Carlisle. It was formerly a market town; and it still has a fair on 29 Oct. A Cistertian Abbey was founded here, in the 12th century, by Henry I.; and rose to such consequence that its abbots were frequently summoned to sit in parliament, in the reigns of Edward I. and II. It was demolished by Robert Bruce, but afterwards splendidly rebuilt. It sustained much injury in the time of Henry VIII.; but its church continued in good condition till 1600; but then the steeple fell, and destroyed great part of the chancel; and in 1604, most of the rest was ruined by an accidental fire. Population of the township: 982. Houses: 200. A bill was introduced in 1864 to make a railway from the Carlisle and Silloth at Abbey-Holme to the Maryport and Carlisle, in the parish of Wigton, with a branch to Bolton, and branches therefrom to the Maryport and Carlisle, and near Priestcroft.
- "The subdistrict comprises the greater part of Holme-Cultram, parts of two other parishes, and two entire parishes. Acres, with the rest of Holme-Cultram: 71,720. Population: 8,024. Houses: 1,621."
A Vision of Britain through Time
Part of Holme Cultram UD 1894-1934; part of Wigton RD 1934-1974. Various swaps of land with surrounding parishes during 1880s and in 1934.
Wikipedia
Abbeytown, also known as Holme Abbey, is a village and civil parish in Cumbria, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 819.[2] It is located five-and-a-half miles southeast of Silloth, and six-and-a-half miles northwest of Wigton. The civil parish borders Holme Low to the north, Holme East Waver and Dundraw to the east, Bromfield to the south, and Holme St Cuthbert to the west. The county town of Carlisle is eighteen miles to the northeast. Other nearby settlements include Highlaws, Kelsick, Mawbray, Pelutho, and Wheyrigg. The B5302 road runs through the village.
Abbeytown was built around the former Cistercian Holmcultram Abbey, the nave of the church of which now serves the parish as St Mary's Church. On 9 June 2006 the church was set alight in an arson attack which devastated its roof parts of which had been in situ since it was erected 900 years ago.[1] The church has since been restored, and fully reopened in September 2015.
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