Beaulieu Abbey
Encyclopedia
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
located in Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It was founded in 1203-1204 by King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
and (uniquely in Britain
England in the Middle Ages
England in the Middle Ages concerns the history of England during the Medieval period — from the end of Roman rule in Britain through to the Early Modern period...
) peopled by 30 monks sent from the abbey of Cîteaux in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the mother house of the Cistercian order. The Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
name of the monastery was Bellus Locus Regis ('The beautiful place of the king').
History of the Abbey
The first AbbotAbbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
of Beaulieu was Hugh
Hugh of Carlisle
-Life:Hugh was the first abbot of the Cistercian Beaulieu Abbey, which had originally been located at Faringdon in Berkshire , before he was selected for the see of Carlisle. In 1214 and 1216, Hugh was censured by the Chapter General of the Cistercian Order for the ostentation of his lifestyle...
, a man who stood high in the king's favour and who often served him on important diplomatic missions. He was later to become Bishop of Carlisle
Bishop of Carlisle
The Bishop of Carlisle is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the Province of York.The diocese covers the County of Cumbria except for Alston Moor and the former Sedbergh Rural District...
. The king granted his new abbey a rich endowment, including numerous manors spread across southern England (particularly in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
), land in the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
, corn, large amounts of money, building materials, 120 cows, 12 bulls, a golden chalice, and an annual tun of wine . John's son and successor, King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
was equally generous to Beaulieu, with the result that the abbey became very wealthy , though it was far from the richest English Cistercian house.
The abbey's buildings were of a scale and magnificence reflecting its status as an important royal foundation . The church was a vast cruciform
Cruciform
Cruciform means having the shape of a cross or Christian cross.- Cruciform architectural plan :This is a common description of Christian churches. In Early Christian, Byzantine and other Eastern Orthodox forms of church architecture this is more likely to mean a tetraconch plan, a Greek cross,...
structure in early gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
style and heavily influenced by French churches of the order, especially those of Cîteaux, Bonport and Clairvaux
Clairvaux Abbey
Clairvaux Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, 15 km from Bar-sur-Aube, in the Aube département in northeastern France. The original building, founded in 1115 by St. Bernard, is now in ruins; a high-security prison, the Clairvaux Prison, now occupies the grounds...
. The church was 102m long and had a semi-circular apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
with 11 radiating chapels. The building took more than four decades to complete and was finally dedicated in 1246, in the presence of King Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
and his queen, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, and many prelates and nobles.
South of the church stood a cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
, ranged around which were the chapter house
Chapter house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room attached to a cathedral or collegiate church in which meetings are held. They can also be found in medieval monasteries....
, refectory
Refectory
A refectory is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries...
, kitchens, storehouse and quarters for the monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s, lay brothers and the abbot. A separate infirmary
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
complex lay to the east of the main buildings, connected to them by a passage . The abbey was surrounded by workshops, farm buildings, guesthouses, a mill, and extensive gardens and fishponds. Strongly fortified gatehouses controlled entry to the monastic enclosure, which was defended by a wall. A water gate allowed access to ships in the river.
Pope Innocent III constituted Beaulieu an "exempt abbey", meaning that the abbot had to answer to no bishop
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...
save the Pope
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
himself. Beaulieu was also invested by the same Pope with special privileges of sanctuary, much stronger than usual and covering not only the abbey itself but all the 23.5ha precinct around that had been originally granted by King John. As Beaulieu was the only abbey in its region with such large and strongly enforced sanctuary rights it soon became a recourse of fugitives, both ordinary criminals and debtors and also political enemies of the government. Among these latter were Anne Neville
Anne Neville, 16th Countess of Warwick
Anne de Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick was the daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, and his second wife Isabel le Despenser. Isabel was a daughter of Thomas le Despenser Anne de Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick (13 July 1426 – 20 September 1492) was the daughter of...
, wife of Warwick the King-maker, after the battle of Barnet
Battle of Barnet
The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV...
(1471). Twenty-six years later Perkin Warbeck
Perkin Warbeck
Perkin Warbeck was a pretender to the English throne during the reign of King Henry VII of England. By claiming to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, the younger son of King Edward IV, one of the Princes in the Tower, Warbeck was a significant threat to the newly established Tudor Dynasty,...
fled to Beaulieu from the pursuing armies of Henry VII
Henry VII of England
Henry VII was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death on 21 April 1509, as the first monarch of the House of Tudor....
.
Monks from Beaulieu founded four daughter houses, Netley Abbey
Netley Abbey
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 Roman Catholic monks of the austere Cistercian order. Despite being a royal abbey, Netley was never rich, produced no influential scholars...
(1239), Hailes Abbey
Hailes Abbey
Hailes Abbey is two miles northeast of Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, England.The abbey was founded in 1245 or 1246 by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, called "King of the Romans" and the younger brother of King Henry III of England. He was granted the manor of Hailes by Henry, and settled it with...
(1246), Newenham Abbey (1247) and St Mary Graces Abbey (1350).
Dissolution
In 1535 the abbey's income was assessed in the Valor EcclesiasticusValor Ecclesiasticus
The Valor Ecclesiasticus was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII....
, Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
's great survey of church finances, at £428 gross, £326 net , which meant that it escaped being confiscated under the terms of the first Suppression Act, Henry's initial move in the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
.
The last abbot of Beaulieu was Abbot Thomas Stevens
Thomas Stevens (monk)
Thomas Stevens , Abbot of Netley Abbey and Beaulieu Abbey; was an English renaissance clergyman and Cistercian monk...
, elected in 1536. Stevens was the former abbot of the recently dissolved abbey of Netley, across Southampton Water
Southampton Water
Southampton Water is a tidal estuary north of the Solent and the Isle of Wight in England. The city of Southampton lies at its most northerly point. Along its salt marsh-fringed western shores lie the New Forest villages of Hythe and "the waterside", Dibden Bay, and the Esso oil refinery at Fawley...
. Beaulieu managed to survive until April 1538, at which point it was finally forced to surrender to the government. Many of the monks were granted pensions, the abbot receiving 100 marks per year. Abbot Thomas ended his days as treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral
Salisbury Cathedral, formally known as the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an Anglican cathedral in Salisbury, England, considered one of the leading examples of Early English architecture....
. He died in 1550.
At the dissolution
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
of the monastery in 1538, the Commissioners for the Dissolution reported to the government that thirty-two sanctuary-men, who were here for debt, felony, or murder, were living in houses in the monastic precincts with their wives and families. When the abbey was dissolved there was some debate about what to do with them, however, in the end it was decided, after pleading by the former abbot and certain government officials, to allow the debtors to live in their houses on the abbey grounds permanently. Pardons were given to some of the criminals too, including one Thomas Jeynes, a murderer.
Mansion
After Beaulieu fell there was much competition amongst courtierCourtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
s to gain ownership of the abbey and its valuable estates, but eventually Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton
Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, KG , known as The Lord Wriothesley between 1544 and 1547, was a politician of the Tudor period born in London to William Wrythe and Agnes Drayton....
, won the struggle and King Henry granted him the abbey itself and 3,441ha of the Beaulieu lands .
As soon as he took over, Wriothesley set about building himself a house on the site. He demolished the church, as was common practice but, unusually, instead of converting the buildings around the cloister into a home he chose the great gatehouse as the core of his mansion (compare Wriothesley's other converted monastery at Titchfield Abbey
Titchfield Abbey
Titchfield Abbey is a medieval abbey and later country house, located in the village of Titchfield near Fareham in Hampshire, England. The abbey was founded in 1222 for Premonstratensian canons, an austere order of priests...
or the conversion of neighbouring Netley Abbey
Netley Abbey
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 Roman Catholic monks of the austere Cistercian order. Despite being a royal abbey, Netley was never rich, produced no influential scholars...
). This survives - much extended - as the modern country house at Beaulieu known as Palace House. Lord Southampton preserved the monks' refectory, which he gave to the people of Beaulieu village
Beaulieu, Hampshire
Beaulieu is a small village located on the south eastern edge of the New Forest national park in Hampshire, England and home to both Palace House and the British National Motor Museum.- History :...
to be their parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
church, a function it still serves today. The west range of the abbey, known as the Domus was also saved. The rest of the abbey was allowed to fall into ruin.
The Abbey Today
Although a great deal was destroyed at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, there is still much to see. The groundplan of the 102 metre long church can be seen on the lawns. The position of the altar is marked by a cross and flanking trees. The Domus, once the lay brothers' refectory and lodgings and, later, chambers for important guests once the lay brothers had vanished, now houses an exhibition of monastic life prior to Thomas Wriothesley's takeover. Visitors can view a series of modern embroidered wall hangings made by Belinda, Lady Montagu, depicting scenes from mediaeval monastic life and the history of the abbey since 1204. The abbey refectory survives as the parish church and there are substantial ruins of the other buildings round the cloister. The abbey cloister is a place of tranquillity, planted with fragrant herbs. The Domus is now regularly used for events, dining and corporate hospitality. Beaulieu remains in the hands of the descendants of Wriothesley, who still live there. Both the abbey and Palace HouseBeaulieu Palace House
The Beaulieu Palace House is a 13th century house located in Beaulieu, Hampshire. It was originally built in the 13th century as the Great Gatehouse of Beaulieu Abbey and has been the ancestral home of a branch of the Montagu family since 1538, when it was bought from the crown following the...
are open to the public. The grounds are home to the National Motor Museum
National Motor Museum
The National Motor Museum is a museum in the village of Beaulieu, set in the heart of the New Forest, in the English county of Hampshire.- History :...
.
Folklore
Like many former monastic sites, Beaulieu has its fair share of legends attached. Ghostly monks have been reported in the abbey ruins and in the parish church and Gregorian chantGregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
and ghostly footsteps are said to have been heard . The smell of incense has been reported in rooms of Palace House once used as chapels in the Middle Ages . According to legend, this manifestation signals tragedy for the people of the abbey or Beaulieu village. The abbey is also said to have a post-Reformation ghost, a grey lady who is seen in Palace House. She is said to be the shade of an 18th-century inhabitant of the house, Lady Isabella.
Beaulieu Attraction
Today the Abbey is part of the visitor attraction known simply as "Beaulieu". Admission includes the following attractions:- Beaulieu Abbey
- National Motor MuseumNational Motor MuseumThe National Motor Museum is a museum in the village of Beaulieu, set in the heart of the New Forest, in the English county of Hampshire.- History :...
- Beaulieu Palace HouseBeaulieu Palace HouseThe Beaulieu Palace House is a 13th century house located in Beaulieu, Hampshire. It was originally built in the 13th century as the Great Gatehouse of Beaulieu Abbey and has been the ancestral home of a branch of the Montagu family since 1538, when it was bought from the crown following the...
- James BondJames Bond (film series)The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
Experience - an exhibition of vehicles from the films - World of Top Gear
- Secret Army Exhibition - an exhibit about the Special Operations ExecutiveSpecial Operations ExecutiveThe Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
training at Beaulieu during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis... - Gardens
- A monorailMonorailA monorail is a rail-based transportation system based on a single rail, which acts as its sole support and its guideway. The term is also used variously to describe the beam of the system, or the vehicles traveling on such a beam or track...
- Rides
External links
- Beaulieu - official attraction site including the Abbey
- In-depth history of the abbey from the Victoria County History
- Beaulieu at The Heritage Trail
- Beaulieu on the Sheffield University Cistercian abbeys website
- Image of Palace House, the Tudor and later mansion built around the former monastic gatehouse. The mediaeval building is on the right
- Ruins of the chapter house of the abbey
