Archaeologists have won a £48,000 Heritage Lottery grant to carry out an extensive dig at a Cumbrian abbey.

Holm Cultram Abbey in Abbeytown was the largest monastic house in Cumbria and founded by Cistercian monks in 1150.

Members of West Cumbria Archaeological Society will use the cash to search for abbey foundations in a nearby field.

The investigation of the size and layout of the site is hoped to result in the production of a plan of the entire monastic complex.