Thornton Abbey was a medieval abbey located close to the small North Lincolnshire village of Thornton Curtis, near Ulceby.
It was founded as a priory in 1139 by William le Gros, the Earl of Yorkshire, and raised to the status of abbey in 1148. It was a house for Augustinian or black canons, who lived a communal life under the Rule of St Augustine but also undertook pastoral duties outside of the Abbey. Officers within the abbey included a cellarer, bursar, chamberlain, sacrist, kitchener and an infirmer.
The abbey was closed in 1539 by Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Thornton was a wealthy and prestigious house valued at the dissolution at the considerable sum of £591 0s 2¾d. It managed to survive by becoming a secular college, until it was closed in 1547.
Thornton Abbey railway station is nearby.