St Whites Cinderford - Origins of name - prior thread (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, April 03, 2013, 16:26 (4254 days ago) @ slowhands

Thanks kind sir, very interesting indeed. I thought it must have been asked in the past, sorry for not spotting the prior thread, I did look first, honest :-)

Search engines can sometimes be very helpfull, yet in this case despite my best efforts I didn't find this superb site about Flaxley Abbey and area, proving the computer is only as good as it's driver !. It clearly states

"FLAXLEY ABBEY was founded in the mid twelth century by Roger Fitz-Milo, Earl of Hereford, in the reign of King Stephen. The abbey was inhabited by the white monks of the Cistercian order, leading to the names St. White's and Whitecross."
http://www.burgumfamily.com/pages/pl%20flaxley.html
Yet Flaxley Church is dedicated to St Mary...

Much more here of course, I had no idea all the area's industrial history could be traced back to an Abbey, completely changed my conception of a monk's habits, thought it was all peaceful prayer with a little gentle beekeeping & brewing !.
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=23256

Apparently according to this site about Furness Abbey in Cumbria, "The greatest Cistercian producers of iron ore in England were Furness and Flaxley."
I presume "Furness" equates to the metalworking "furnace" that I can relate to so well.
http://www.furnessabbey.org.uk/page80.html

Thanks so much for pointing me down another new road of discovery.