December
1333 A.D. Missenden Abbey,
Buckinghamshire, UK—Augustinian Abbey Founded by William de Missenden; Acknowledged Royal Supremacy, 1536; Dissolved 1538; Granted to Duke of Northumberland; Now a Residential College Rarely Open to
Public
Missenden Abbey
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Missenden Abbey
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"Missenden
Abbey" - country house dating from 1574
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Location within
Buckinghamshire
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Monastery information
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Established
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1133
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1538
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Mother house
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People
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Founder(s)
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Site
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Location
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SP8901
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Missenden
Abbey (also referred to as Great Missenden Abbey) was a former Arrouasian (Augustinian) monastery, founded in 1133 in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. The abbey was dissolved in 1538, and the abbey church demolished. In 1574 a
house, also known as Missenden Abbey, was constructed on the site of the
monastic cloisters, incorporating some of the monastic remains. The house was
altered several times, gaining its current "Regency Gothic" style at
the beginning of the 19th-century. The house was "gutted" by fire in
1985 and subsequently rebuilt.
Contents
Abbey
Foundation
The abbey of Missenden was
founded c.1133, by William de Missenden, the lord of Missenden manor.[1] Two of the abbey's foundation charters (those issued by King Henry I, and by Alexander,
Bishop of Lincoln) state
there were originally seven canons, who came to Missenden from "the church of St. Mary 'de Bosco (or de
Nemore) de pago Terresino".[2] This church - thought to have been in Ruisseauville, France - was a daughter house of Arrouaise Abbey, also in France.[2][3] Missenden thus became the home of the first abbey in Buckinghamshire and
the second Arrouasian community in England, after Warter Abbey in East Yorkshire.[3]
"The Arrouasian canons
differed very little from other Augustinians, and sometimes abandoned at an early date the
slight distinctions they originally had".[4] The Arrouasian Order "never seem to have been really an independent
order with special privileges", and thus often were not distinguished from
canons of the Augustinian Order.[2]
15th and 16th Centuries
During a visit conducted
between 1431 and 1436, William Grey,
Bishop of Lincoln, found
that the abbey did not have enough canons to perform its religious duties, and
that some of the abbey's buildings were in need of repair.[2]
A visit in 1518 by William
Atwater, Bishop of Lincoln, found the discipline at the abbey was "lax", and that the
refectory needed to be repaired.[2] In 1521, a canon at the abbey was forced to do penance for heresy.[2]
In 1530 and 1531 the abbey was
visited by John Longland, Bishop of Lincoln, who found the abbey in debt, while all of the
buildings were in need of repair. The bishop found the abbot, John Fox, to be
"wholly under the influence of a secular, John Compton, who cut down trees
and did as he pleased with the goods of the monastery." Bishop Longland
suspended Abbot Fox, placing the abbey under the control of John Otwell, who
would later become abbot himself.[2]
Dissolution
The abbey was surrendered for dissolution in 1538, and the abbey church was demolished the
same year.[2][5] The last abbot, John Otwell, subsequently married before dying in 1552.[2]
Architectural history and remains
There is no extant plan of the
medieval monastery, but a partial reconstruction is possible based on documentary
evidence, excavation work and comparisons with other religious houses of the
period. The Abbey Church, which was dedicated to the Blessed
Virgin Mary, was located on the North
side of the cloister, running from west to east, as was typical of the period.[6]Excavated stonework suggests that the church was highly decorated, in a romanesque style.[7] The church housed the largest bell in Buckinghamshire, which weighed more
than 2.5 tons.[7]
The abbey church, of which
nothing remains, was located 300 yds east of the present building. This
building incorporates stonework from the east range of the cloister buildings,
but none of it is visible.[5] Excavations conducted in 1983 showed that the abbey church was built in two
or three phases; the earliest of which dated from the mid-12th-century.[5]
Abbots of Missenden
A list of the known abbots of
Missenden:[2]
Daniel. First abbot; name occurs 1133 and 1145
Peter, name occurs c.1163
Adam, name occurs 1198 and 1206
William, name occurs 1217
Martin, deposed 1236
Robert, elected 1236, resigned 1240
Roger of Gilsburgh, elected 1240
Simon of London, elected 1258, resigned 1262
Geoffrey de Welpesle, elected 1262, resigned 1268
William of London, elected 1268
Matthew of Tring, died 1306
Richard Marshall, elected 1306, died 1323
Robert of Kimble, elected 1323, resigned 1339
William Delamere, elected 1339, died 1340
Henry of Buckingham, elected 1340
John of Abingdon, elected 1347, died 1348
William of Bradley, elected 1348, resigned 1356
Ralf Marshall, elected 1356, died 1374
William of Thenford, elected 1374, died 1384
John Marsh, elected 1384, died 1398
Richard Meer, elected 1398
Robert Risborough, deposed 1462
Henry Honor or Missenden, elected 1462
William Smith, (fn. 94) died 1521
William Honor, elected 1521, died 1528
John Fox, elected 1528
John Otwell, last abbot; abbey dissolved 1538
Country House
Construction
Like many other former
monasteries, a country house was constructed on the site of the former abbey.
Also known as "Missenden Abbey", the house was constructed in 1574,
on the site of the former cloisters, and incorporating some of the monastic
remains.[5] The house was altered and remodeled in both the 17th and 18th centuries.
Between 1806 and 1814, the house was remodeled in a "Regency Gothic"
style, for John Ayton. The two storied house was built around a courtyard and
featured "castellated parapets, corner turrets with arrow slits and
conical caps."[8]
Fire and later history
The building was designated
Grade II listed on 10 March 1983.[9] However, in 1985 the building was destroyed by fire.[8] The house was "gutted".[9] Among that destroyed was the "15th or 16th century roof of the East
range", which was "a rare survival of a monastic roof".[8] The building was reconstructed following the fire, with some of the
interiors remodeled.[9]
References
Notes
Bibliography
External links
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