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| Byland Abbey |
Many years ago I did an archaeology diploma, I decided to study Wiltshire Abbeys and fell in love with a Victorian gentleman called Harold Brakespear, an architect and archaeologist. They are such a delight these hardworking nineteenth century people. No radio, no television, they must have worked diligently writing away at their desks.
I lived in Calne, and just along the road was Stanley Abbey remains, though I never went there. There was the beautiful Lacock Abbey as well, not forgetting Malmesbury and Bradenstoke.
They are part of a lost landscape, Henry Vlll sold them out to the rich entrepreneurs around his court. These magnificent buildings were taken apart, and maybe used for building fine houses, or robbed slowly over time to build the small cottages in the area.
Should have Henry done this, it was of course because of his selfish needs to get rid of the Catholic church and a divorce, as he had failed miserably in producing an heir. But suddenly he drew a curtain over a way of life that was self-sufficient and religious.
Here in Yorkshire there are magnificent ruined Cistercian abbeys, in North Yorkshire we visited Byland (see here) and Rievaulx abbeys. This summer we went to Bolton Abbey, though I had visited before with my young son and watched him play in the river that ran alongside.
At Castle Acre Priory whilst working there, I would often sit by the dried out channel of the canal, wondering about the boats that had sailed up there with the supplies for the priory. Stories abound in these places, the round brewery, whose foundations I drew, remind us that people did not drink water but made beer. If you were to go to Bylands Abbey now, you would see all the necessary workshops, the great kitchens which served the monks, always reminds me of Gormenghast's kitchen with Swelter in charge.
There was of course two classes of monks, the lay monk who worked out on the granges, harvesting the food, and the 'proper' religious monks who saw to the writing of books and worship. Also of course, the Infirmary, where the sick would come to be healed.
One of the most 'magical' abbeys is of course Rievaulx, (see here) hidden in a wooded area, you drive down the hill to see the buildings framed at the bottom by the hills.
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| Rievaulx Abbey |
https://archive.org/stream/brakspear-1923-archaeologia-73-24486/Brakspear%201923%20Archaeologia%2073%2024486_djvu.txt
We've not visited any of the Yorkshire Abbeys, but know they are quite amazing.
ReplyDeleteFear of God by the local lords must have fuelled the building works, but they were built over many generations Je
DeleteI have to tell you that one of the most amazing things about the UK to me was standing in a place and seeing a castle over here, or church ruins over there, here an abbey, there a manor, everywhere I looked, there seemed to be a mute reminder that things used to look very, very different. I'm a day dreamer too, and I can tell you that at Bradgate Park, sitting on the stones in front of Lady Jane Grey's childhood home, looking at all the ancient oaks and the view, and the deer....it was quite easy to be swept away by my own imaginings. It was quite magical, really.
ReplyDeleteOf course Debby we only preserve the 'pretty' bits. All these places are subject by law to protection from their owners. I think it is their mellowed grace that appeals especially small old manor houses.
DeleteI lived a couple of miles from Jervaulx - not a lot of it left but quite a magical place.
ReplyDeleteI think it is the enormous undertaking to build such great buildings that fill us with awe Pat. The 'greater glory of God' actually meant something. Also it was a good place for second sons to go to if they didn't inherit - wonder if anyone mentioned that to Harry?
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of Stanley Abbey, and it is so close to us. I have spent a lot of time at Waverley Abbey.
ReplyDeleteOnly lumps and bumps in the field, Brakespear must have traced the foundations in his survey Tom.
ReplyDeleteWere the great abbeys really about God or were they about money and political control? How did local people with ancient roots in the landscape feel about colonisation by powerful religious orders mostly connected with France and Rome? I don't know the answers to these questions.
ReplyDeleteThey started out poor the early monks and established small communities from their mother houses. I suppose the French side came in when we were taken over by the Norman lords, the monastic priory at Avebury was started by French monks. I think it is difficult to judge the political aspect, and it is better to see the abbeys as closed communities doing good, the individual greed and wealth was just part of the backdrop of life.
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