Flaxley Abbey | |
---|---|
Former names | Dene Abbey |
General information | |
Status | Grade I listed |
Type | Stately home |
Location | Gloucestershire |
Town or city | Flaxley |
Country | UK |
Coordinates | 51°50′10″N02°27′07″W / 51.83611°N 2.45194°W |
Construction started | 30 September 1151 |
Completed | 1154 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Redesign Anthony Keck. [1] |
Other designers | Interior Design Oliver Messel. [2] |
Flaxley Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in England, now a Grade I listed English country house and private residence, near the village of Flaxley in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. It is the former seat of the Crawley-Boevey Baronets. [3]
Flaxley Abbey was founded in 1151 by Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford as a Cistercian monastery. It was allegedly founded on the spot where his father, Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, was killed while hunting in the Forest of Dean in 1143. The monks who built the abbey came from Bordesley Abbey founded in Worcestershire in 1138. In the late 12th century, it was noted that Pope Celestine III and Pope Alexander III granted the monks of Flaxley Abbey special immunity from tithes.
The monastery came under royal protection during the reign of King Henry II and was used as a royal hunting quarters. In 1227 King Henry III gave a grant to Flaxley Abbey to the woods, called Abbot's Woods. King Edward III, who paid frequent visits to Flaxley Abbey, granted to Flaxley Abbey income from the rents and profits of the lands of the Forest of Dean in 1353. [4]
Flaxley Abbey was eventually dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries on 4 September 1536. On 21 March 1537 the abbey and its lands were granted to Sir William Kingston, Constable of the Tower of London during much of the reign of Henry VIII, who superintended the execution of Queen Anne Boleyn. During this time the west and south wings of the abbey were converted into a manor house.
Flaxley Abbey was purchased in 1648 by the London merchant, lawyer and philosopher James Boevey (1622–1696), with his half-brother William. [5] It subsequently passed to Catherina Boevey, following her brief marriage to William Boevey (James Boevey's son). She bequeathed the house to Thomas Crawley (later styled Crawley-Boevey) on her death in 1727. [6]
The family succeeded by special remainder to the Crawley-Boevey baronetcy (created in 1784 for Sir Charles Barrow, 1st Baronet [7] who died 1789). During this time the house was substantially rebuilt by the designs of architect Anthony Keck. [1] As baronets the manor and the estate continued to pass down from father to eldest son. Flaxley Abbey remained as the family home until 1960.
After the death of William Boevey, his wife Catherina Boevey completed Dutch-style gardens on the grounds of Flaxley Abbey. It is said that Maynard I Colchester, a close friend of Catherina, was influenced by her own canal gardens for his Westbury Court Garden. [8] The layout of the gardens and improvements to Flaxley Abbey were continued by her after her husband's death. However, due to the modification of the land, the Dutch-style gardens at Flaxley Abbey were eventually removed. Between 1962 and 1963 a new modern style garden as well as the manor's interior were redesigned by Oliver Messel. [2]
Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, the Bishop of Winchester.
Abbotsbury Abbey, dedicated to Saint Peter, was a Benedictine monastery in the village of Abbotsbury in Dorset, England. The abbey was founded in the 11th century by King Cnut's thegn Orc and his wife Tola, who handsomely endowed the monastery with lands in the area. The abbey prospered and became a local centre of power, controlling eight manor houses and villages. During the later Middle Ages, the abbey suffered much misfortune. In the time of the dissolution of the monasteries, the last abbot surrendered the abbey and the site became the property of Sir Giles Strangways.
Beaulieu Abbey was a Cistercian abbey in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1203–1204 by King John and populated by 30 monks sent from the abbey of Cîteaux in France, the mother house of the Cistercian order. The Medieval Latin name of the monastery was Bellus Locus Regis or monasterium Belli loci Regis. Other spellings of the English name which occur historically are Bewley and Beaulie.
Sawley Abbey was an abbey of Cistercian monks in the village of Sawley, Lancashire, in England. Created as a daughter-house of Newminster Abbey, it existed from 1149 until its dissolution in 1536, during the reign of King Henry VIII.
Buckland Abbey is a Grade I listed 700-year-old house in Buckland Monachorum, near Yelverton, Devon, England, noted for its connection with Sir Richard Grenville the Younger and Sir Francis Drake. It is owned by the National Trust.
Flaxley is a small settlement and former civil parish, now in the parish of Blaisdon, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England. It is located in between the larger villages of Westbury-on-Severn and Mitcheldean. In 1931 the parish had a population of 87.
Walter of Gloucester was an early Anglo-Norman official of the King of England during the early years of the Norman conquest of the South Welsh Marches. He was a sheriff of Gloucester and also a Constable under Henry I.
Roger Fitzmiles, 2nd Earl of Hereford, was an English noble who played an active and influential part in the wars between Empress Matilda and King Stephen.
The Barrow, later Crawley-Boevey Baronetcy, of Highgrove in the County of Gloucester, is a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 22 January 1784 for Charles Barrow, Member of Parliament for Gloucester, with a special remainder to Thomas Crawley-Boevey, husband of his first cousin, once removed, who succeeded as second Baronet. Crawley-Boevey was husband of Ann, granddaughter of Thomas Barrow, brother of the first Baronet. His grandfather Thomas Crawley had on inheriting Flaxley Abbey in 1726 assumed the additional surname of Boevey. Flaxley Abbey had been purchased in 1648 by the merchant, lawyer and philosopher James Boevey (1622–1696) and his half-brother William Boevey. The second Baronet was succeeded by his eldest son, the third Baronet. He was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire from 1831 to 1832. His grandson, the fifth Baronet, was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1882.
Westbury Court Garden is a Dutch water garden in Westbury-on-Severn, Gloucestershire, England, 9 miles (14 km) southwest of Gloucester. It is a rare survival of seventeenth century garden design and was initially laid out by the owner of Westbury Court, Maynard Colchester I, in 1696–1705. The garden has been under the guardianship of the National Trust since 1967.
Stratford Langthorne Abbey, or the Abbey of St Mary's, Stratford Langthorne was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1135 at Stratford Langthorne — then Essex but now Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. The Abbey, also known as West Ham Abbey due to its location in the parish of West Ham, was one of the largest Cistercian abbeys in England, possessing 1,500 acres (6.07 km2) of local land, controlling over 20 manors throughout Essex. The head of the community was known as the Abbot of West Ham.
Sibton Abbey, an early Cistercian abbey located near Yoxford, Suffolk, was founded about 1150 by William de Chesney, High Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk. A sister house of Warden Abbey, near Bedford, Bedfordshire, Sibton Abbey was the only Cistercian abbey in East Anglia. It was dissolved in 1536.
Catherina Boevey (1669–1726), was a philanthropist.
James Yonge (1794–1870) was for many years one of the chief physicians of the west of England.
William de Chesney was a medieval Anglo-Norman nobleman and sheriff. The son of a landholder in Norfolk, William inherited after the death of his two elder brothers. He was the founder of Sibton Abbey, as well as a benefactor of other monasteries in England. In 1157, Chesney acquired the honour of Blythburgh, and was sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk during the 1150s and 1160s. On Chesney's death in 1174, he left three unmarried daughters as his heirs.
James Boevey (1622–1696) was an English merchant, lawyer and philosopher of Huguenot parentage.
William Hartley Carnegie was an Anglican priest and author. In addition to parish ministries and chaplaincy, he served as Archdeacon of Westminster from 1918 to 1919 and as sub-dean of Westminster Abbey from 1919 to 1936.
Arthur William Crawley-Boevey was a British author, barrister and civil servant, born on 12 August 1845 in London, UK. As an author, he is most known for his works on preservation of buildings and archeological sites in the British Empire including books on Flaxley Abbey. As a civil servant, he became the Acting Chief Presidency Magistrate of Bombay in 1887.
Sybella Mary Crawley-Boevey (1851-1911) was a British author of Victorian fiction novels. They are mostly out of print.
St Mary's Church, Dymock is a Church of England parish church in the center of the village of Dymock in Gloucestershire, England. It is a Grade I listed building.