Northern Monument #18 – Basingwerk Abbey. Founded in 1132 by Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester, who had recently brought Benedictine monks from Savigny Abbey in southern Normandy. The abbey became part of the Cistercian Order in 1147 as a daughter house of Buildwas Abbey in Shropshire. Monks remained here for more than four centuries and passed through various patronage at Basingwerk until 1536, when abbey life came to an end with the dissolution of the Monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII. It’s sole purpose as a protected ruin is now to mark the starting point of the North Wales Pilgrims Way.