Hailes Abbey

Last updated

Hailes Abbey
Hailes Abbey Landscape.jpg
The ruins of Hailes Abbey (2011)
Monastery information
Order Cistercian
Established1246
DisestablishedChristmas Eve 1539
Mother house Beaulieu Abbey
People
Founder(s) Richard, Earl of Cornwall
Abbot
  • First: Jordan of Beaulieu
  • Last: Stephen Sagar
Site
LocationParish of Stanway, Gloucestershire, England
Coordinates 51°58′6″N1°55′41″W / 51.96833°N 1.92806°W / 51.96833; -1.92806
Public accessYes: the ruins are owned by the National Trust but managed by English Heritage.
Official nameHailes Abbey and ringwork
Designated1 October 1936
Reference no. 1018070
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameHailes Abbey
Designated4 July 1960
Reference no. 1154262

Hailes Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey, in the small village of Hailes, two miles northeast of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England. It was founded in 1246 as a daughter establishment of Beaulieu Abbey. The abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1539. Little remains of the abbey. It is a Grade I listed building [1] and a scheduled monument. [2]

Contents

The site is owned by the National Trust but managed by English Heritage. There is a museum on the site holding many artefacts from the Abbey.

History

Boss of Samson wrestling a lion, from Hailes Abbey Boss of Samson at Hailes Abbey 2019-06-09.jpg
Boss of Samson wrestling a lion, from Hailes Abbey

The abbey was founded in 1246 by Richard of Cornwall, the younger brother of Henry III. Richard was elected by the German Princes as Holy Roman Emperor but Pope Alexander IV refused him use of the title, henceforth he was styled King of the Romans. [3] Richard founded the abbey to thank God after surviving a shipwreck. [4] Richard had been granted the manor of Hailes by King Henry, and settled it with a group of twenty Cistercian monks and ten lay brothers, led by Prior Jordan, from Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire. [5] [6] The great Cistercian abbey was entirely built in a single campaign in 1277, and was consecrated in a royal ceremony that included the King and Queen and 15 bishops. It was one of the last Cistercian houses to be founded in England. [5]

Hailes Abbey became a site of pilgrimage after Richard's son Edmund donated to the Cistercian community a phial of the Holy Blood, purchased in Germany, in 1270. Such a relic of the Crucifixion was a considerable magnet for pilgrimage. From the proceeds, the monks of Hailes were able to rebuild the Abbey on a magnificent scale. [6] One Abbot of Hailes was executed as a rebel after the Battle of Bramham Moor, in 1408. [7]

Though King Henry VIII's commissioners declared the famous relic to be nothing but the blood of a duck, [8] regularly renewed, and though the Abbot, Stephen Sagar, admitted that the Holy Blood was a fake in hope of saving the Abbey, Hailes Abbey was one of the last religious institutions to acquiesce following the Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535. The Abbot and his monks finally surrendered their abbey to Henry's commissioners on Christmas Eve 1539. [6]

Following the Dissolution, the west range consisting of the Abbot's own apartments was converted into a house and was home to the Tracy family in the seventeenth century, but these buildings were later demolished and now all that remains are a few low arches in a meadow with outlines in the grass. Surviving remains include the small church for the disappeared parish, with unrestored medieval wall-paintings. [6]

In 1937 the site was donated to the National Trust and in 1948 the Ministry of Works, a predecessor of English Heritage, assumed responsibility for the abbey. [5]

Burials

Among those buried at the Abbey were the founder, Richard of Cornwall, his second wife, Sanchia of Provence, and his sons, Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall and Henry of Almain. [9]

Hailes Church

Hailes Church
Haile Church (9603102782).jpg
Hailes Church
Built1175
Listed Building – Grade I
Official nameChurch (dedication unknown)
Designated4 July 1960
Reference no. 1154315

Outside the remains of the Abbey is Hailes Church. The church is older than the abbey, and was consecrated in 1175. It later served as the capella ante portas (Latin for 'chapel outside the gates') to the Abbey until the Abbey's dissolution in 1539. Inside the church are fine 14th-century wall paintings depicting St Catherine and St Christopher, on the north wall, and St Margaret and coursing scenes, on the south. [9] The church is also a Grade I listed building. [10] The church is part of the Eastern Parishes benefice, north of Winchcombe, and occasional services are held. [11]

Hailes Church's medieval paintings HailesChurchpaintings.JPG
Hailes Church's medieval paintings

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloucester Cathedral</span> Church in Gloucester, England

Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity and formerly St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishment of a minster, Gloucester Abbey, dedicated to Saint Peter and founded by Osric, King of the Hwicce, in around 679.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jervaulx Abbey</span> Ruined monastery in North Yorkshire, England

Jervaulx Abbey in East Witton in North Yorkshire, 14 mi (23 km) north-west of the city of Ripon, was one of the great Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire, England, dedicated to St Mary in 1156. It is a Grade I listed building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netley Abbey</span> Ruins of 13th-century abbey in Hampshire, England

Netley Abbey is a ruined late medieval monastery in the village of Netley near Southampton in Hampshire, England. The abbey was founded in 1239 as a house for monks of the austere Cistercian order. Despite royal patronage, Netley was never rich, produced no influential scholars nor churchmen, and its nearly 300-year history was quiet. The monks were best known to their neighbours for the generous hospitality they offered to travellers on land and sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winchcombe</span> Market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England

Winchcombe is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, England, it is 6 miles (10 km) north-east of Cheltenham. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 census and estimated at 5,347 in 2019. The town is located in the Cotswolds and has many features and buildings dating back to medieval times. In 2021 it was the primary strike site of the eponymous Winchcombe meteorite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glastonbury Abbey</span> Former Benedictine abbey at Somerset, England

Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. Its ruins, a grade I listed building and scheduled ancient monument, are open as a visitor attraction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waverley Abbey</span> Cistercian abbey in Surrey, UK

Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, the Bishop of Winchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winchcombe Abbey</span>

Winchcombe Abbey is a now-vanished Benedictine abbey in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire; this abbey was once in the heart of Mercia, an Anglo Saxon kingdom at the time of the Heptarchy in England. The Abbey was founded c. 798 for three hundred Benedictine monks, by King Offa of Mercia or King Coenwulf of Mercia. In its time, it was the burial place of two members of the Mercian ruling class, the aforementioned Coenwulf and his son Cynehelm, later venerated as Saint Kenelm.

Vaudey Abbey, also known as Vandy Abbey or Vandey Abbey, was an English Cistercian abbey. It was founded in 1147 by William, Count of Aumale, Earl of York. Its site is within the Grimsthorpe Castle park, in Lincolnshire, 3.7 miles (6 km) northwest of Bourne on the A151, but there are no remains of the Abbey aside from earthworks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaulieu Abbey</span> Medieval Cistercian abbey in England

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buckland Abbey</span> Grade I listed historic house museum in the United Kingdom

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleeve Abbey</span> Medieval monastery located near the village of Washford, in Somerset, England

Cleeve Abbey is a medieval monastery located near the Washford River and village of Washford, in the English county of Somerset. It is a Grade I listed building and has been scheduled as an ancient monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whalley Abbey</span> Former Cistercian abbey in Lancashire, England

Whalley Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in Whalley, Lancashire, England. After the dissolution of the monasteries, the abbey was largely demolished and a country house was built on the site. In the 20th century the house was modified and it is now the Retreat and Conference House of the Diocese of Blackburn of the Church of England. The ruins of the abbey are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tavistock Abbey</span> Ruined Benedictine abbey in Devon, England

Tavistock Abbey, also known as the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Rumon, is a ruined Benedictine abbey in Tavistock, Devon. The Abbey was surrendered in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Nothing remains of the abbey except the refectory, two gateways and a porch. The abbey church, dedicated to Our Lady and St Rumon, was destroyed by Danish raiders in 997 and rebuilt under Lyfing, the second abbot. The church was further rebuilt in 1285 and the greater part of the abbey between 1457 and 1458.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxley Abbey</span> Former Cistercian monastery in Kent, England

Boxley Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in Sandling, near Maidstone in Kent, England. It sits at the foot of the North Downs and falls within the parish of Boxley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirkstead Abbey</span>

Kirkstead Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in Kirkstead, Lincolnshire, England.

Events from the 1270s in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rewley Abbey</span> Abbey in Oxford, England

The Cistercian Abbey of Rewley was an abbey in Oxford, England. It was founded in the 13th century by Edmund, 2nd Earl of Cornwall. Edmund's father, Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall, founder of Hailes Abbey, had intended to establish a college or chantry of three secular priests to pray for his soul, but his son Edmund substituted 'six Cistercian monks, having more confidence in them'. If this was the original plan, it was soon enlarged. In 1280 he offered the general chapter of the Cistercian order to found a college (studium) for Cistercians at Oxford, and the chapter accepted the offer, and decreed that the college should have the same privileges as the college of St. Bernard at Paris, and that it should be under the Abbot of Thame, as the other was under the Abbot of Clairvaux. The following year the chapter decreed 'out of due respect to the Earl of Cornwall' that the Abbot of Thame should be empowered to appoint an Abbot of his own choice for the house of study at Oxford, and that there should be a daily memory of the late Earl of Cornwall at Mass at the college (studium) of Oxford, according as the Abbot of the place shall ordain.

Newenham Abbey was a Cistercian abbey founded in 1247 by Reginald II de Mohun (1206–1258) on land within his manor of Axminster in Devon, England. The site of the ruined abbey is a short distance south-west of the town of Axminster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hailes, Gloucestershire</span> Human settlement in England

Hailes is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Stanway, in the Tewkesbury district, in Gloucestershire, England, 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Winchcombe. The village lies at the foot of the Cotswold escarpment. The remains of Hailes Abbey, a Cistercian abbey active from 1246 to 1539, are here. In 1931 the parish had a population of 83.

References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Hailes Abbey (1154262)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  2. ↑ Historic England. "Hailes Abbey and ringwork (1018070)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 16 August 2019.
  3. ↑ "Hailes Abbey", English Heritage.
  4. ↑ "Hailes Abbey", English Heritage.
  5. 1 2 3 Coad, J G (2001). Hailes Abbey. English Heritage. pp. 17–22. ISBN   1-85074-466-1.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Historic England. "Hailes Abbey (328158)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 14 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "War of the Roses in Yorkshire". Yorkshire.com. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  8. ↑ "The Holy Blood of Hailes". English Heritage. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
  9. 1 2 Winkless, Doreen (1990). Hailes Abbey (2001 ed.). Northumberland: Speddon Press. p. 5. ISBN   1 871739 14 4.
  10. ↑ Historic England. "Church (dedication unknown), Stanway (Grade I) (1154315)". National Heritage List for England .
  11. ↑ "Hailes Church". Winchcombeparish.org.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2020.[ permanent dead link ]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.