[ABINGDON (Mitred Benedictine).]
675, Built and endowed by Heane, Viceroy of Wiltshire—955, Monks reinstalled by Edred, King of all England, after the ravages of the Danes—c. 955, Abbot Ethelwold builds the church, dedicates it to St Mary and institutes the rule of St Benedict—1071, Egclwya, Bishop of Durham, dies after imprisonment in the dungeons of the abbey—1084, William the Conqueror keeps the Easter festival at Abingdon—1146, Pope Eugenius III. grants many privileges to the Abbey—15—, Dissolved. Annual revenue, £1876, 10s. 9d.
One Aben, having escaped the cruel treatment Hengist perpetrated on the Barons and great men of the land, hid himself in the south of Oxfordshire for a great while, and the people of the place, pitying him, built him a house and chapel. This then was the beginning of the monastical institution in “Abendun,” so called, after the fugitive. The town of Abingdon, with its narrow winding streets and quaintly gabled houses, has grown up round the mitred monastery of many centuries ago. So closely are the ruins surrounded by houses that there is some difficulty in defining the original site of the abbey. The approach to the ruins is through a gateway of Perpendicular work, built probably about the end of the 14th century. The parapet is battlemented, and over the centre arch may be seen a canopied niche containing the figure of the Blessed Virgin, the patronal saint of the abbey. A few yards further on after turning slightly to the right one reaches the rest of the monastical remains, which consist only of the guest house, with its adjoining abbot’s or prior’s house.
The guest house presents at first sight a somewhat barn-like appearance; it is worthy however of closer inspection. It has two storeys—the ground floor forming the day room and the upper the dormitory. The prior’s house, built in the 14th century, is also a two-storeyed building. A flight of wooden steps, put up for the convenience of the visitor, leads through a pointed doorway into the upper apartments. In a direct line with the entrance is a wall dividing the storey into two rooms, of which the one to the right contains some imposing remains of a columned fireplace, a blocked-up pointed window and stairway door; and the other to the left, a blocked-up window. There are open windows on either side of the entrance, each lighting up one of the apartments. The kitchen or crypt forms the ground floor of the prior’s house, from the one single octagonal column of which spring the ribs that support the groined roof. The fireplace is to the right and facing the entrance is a doorway which formerly communicated with the abbey brook, now known as the mill stream. After being used as a malt house for several years the buildings have been restored by the Abingdon Corporation, by whom the room over the gateway is used as council chamber. To the left on passing through the gateway is the site of the former magnificent abbey church, enclosed in the private grounds of the Bishop of Reading. The whole of the foundations are unfortunately covered by greensward; but it is still possible to gain some idea of the immense size and bold outline of the structure. William of Worcester gives the following dimensions—
Nave, 180 feet.
Two Towers west end, 100 feet high.
Large central tower, 36 feet square.
Choir, with chapel at east end, 162 feet.
Central transepts, 174 feet broad.
Other transepts, 138 feet broad.
At the upper end of the guest house a half circle of stone marks the site of Ethelwold’s church, built on the site of an earlier church erected by Heane in the 7th century. This was peculiar in form, having a circular east end. The fine carved roof of the Lady chapel in St Helen’s church is said to have been removed from the abbey. Along its shields are slight indications of these words
“In the worship of our Lady
Pray for Nicholas Gold and Amy.”
The Chronicle of Abingdon, written by the monks at a time when they were sure of the confidence of the people, is a faithful record of the monastic life-work. A quotation from Mr Stevenson’s review on the translation of the Abingdon Chronicle may be of some interest, as it portrays not only the daily customs of the monks at Abingdon, but of many other monastic establishments.
“Most persons who have bestowed any attention to our early annals will admit, however strong may be their Protestant prejudices, that the best features of our modern civilisation are due to the social organisation introduced by the monks. Agriculture, for example, the parent of all other arts, was despised and neglected by the pagan tribes of German origin, whereas the rule of St Benedict, which was of primary authority with every monastic establishment, proclaimed the ‘nobility of labour’ as a religious duty, inferior in its responsibility only to prayer and study.
“Benedict thought it good that men should be daily reminded that in the sweat of their face they should eat bread, and day by day they toiled in the field as well as prayed in the church. After having been present at the service of Prime, the monks assembled in the chapter-house, each individual received his allotted share of work, a brief prayer was offered up, tools were served out, and the brethren marched two and two, and in silence, to their task in the field. From Easter until the beginning of October they were thus occupied from six o’clock in the morning until ten, sometimes until noon. The more widely the system was diffused the more extensive were its benefits. Besides the monks lay brethren and servants were engaged, who received payment in coin, and as by degrees more land was brought into tillage than the monastery needed, the surplus was leased out to lay occupiers. Thus, each monastery became a centre of civilisation, and while the rude chieftain, intent on war or the chase, cared little for the comfort either of himself or his retainers, the monks became the source, not only of intellectual and spiritual light, but of physical warmth and comfort, and household blessings.”