Anglesey Abbey
Encyclopedia
Anglesey Abbey is a country house, formerly a priory, in the village of Lode
, 5 ½ miles (8.8 km) northeast of Cambridge
, England
. The house and its grounds are owned by the National Trust
and are open to the public as part of the Anglesey Abbey, Garden & Lode Mill property, although some parts remain the private home of the Fairhaven family.
The 98 acres (400,000 m²) of landscaped grounds are divided into a number of walks and gardens, with classical statuary, topiary and flowerbeds. The grounds were laid out in an 18th-century style by the estate's last private owner, the 1st Baron Fairhaven
, in the 1930s. A large pool, the Quarry Pool, is believed to be the site of a 19th-century coprolite
mine. Lode Water Mill, dating from the 18th century was restored to working condition in 1982 and now sells flour
to visitors.
The 1st Lord Fairhaven also improved the house and decorated its interior with a valuable collection of furniture, pictures and objets d'art.
A community of Augustinian canons built a priory
here, known as Anglesea or Anglesey Priory, some time during the reign of Henry I
(i.e., between 1100 and 1135), and acquired extra land from the nearby village of Bottisham
in 1279. The canons were expelled in 1535 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
.
The former priory was acquired around 1600 by Thomas Hobson
, who converted it to a country house for his son-in-law, Thomas Parker, retaining a few arches from the original priory. At that time the building's name was changed to "Anglesey Abbey", which sounded grander than the original "Anglesey Priory".
In the late 18th century, the house was owned by Sir George Downing
, the founder of Downing College, Cambridge
.
Further alterations to the building were carried out in 1861.
Huttleston
(1896–1966) and Henry (1900–1973) Broughton bought the site in 1926 and made improvements to the house. They were the sons of Urban Broughton
(1857–1929), who had made a fortune in the mining and railway industries in America. Henry married, leaving the abbey to his brother, then 1st Lord Fairhaven, in 1930. Henry became the 2nd Lord Fairhaven. Huttleston used his wealth to indulge his interests in history, art, and garden design, and to lead an eighteenth-century lifestyle at the house. On his death, Huttleston left the abbey to the National Trust so that the house and gardens could "represent an age and way of life that was quickly passing".
The extensive landscaped gardens are popular with visitors throughout the year. The most visited areas include the rose
garden and the dahlia
garden, which contain many dozens of varieties. Out of season the spring garden and winter dell are famed nationally, particularly in February when the snowdrop
s first appear.
The lawns of the South Park are mown less frequently and this allows the many wildflower
s to flower and set seed. Over 50 species of wildflower have been recorded, including Bee Orchid
, Twayblade, Pyramidal Orchid
and Common spotted orchid
. In mid-summer, there are large numbers of butterflies such as Meadow Brown
, Gatekeeper
, Small Skipper
s and Marbled Whites.
island known as Anglesey
in English, although the two names do have some etymology
in common. Anglesey Priory was built on what was, before improvements in the drainage of the area, an island. In both place names, as in many other place names in Britain, the final -ey is from a Germanic word meaning 'isle'. In the case of the Welsh island, Angle- is from an Old Norse word ǫngull, which is either a personal name, or a word meaning 'angle' or 'corner'. In the case of the Priory, Angle- is probably a reference to the Angles
, a Germanic people who invaded the east of England in the 5th century. The anterior origin of this name is debatable, with some versions linking it to 'angle', a reference to the shape of their homeland, and others claiming a reference to 'angling'. However, it is likely that the name refers to the fact that the Fens and its islands were home to a native British (Brythonic) population, and that the Angles were an island community within a predominantly Celtic landscape.
Lode, Cambridgeshire
Lode is a small village in East Cambridgeshire on the southern edge of The Fens. It lies just north of the B1102 between Quy and Swaffham Bulbeck, to the north east of Cambridge....
, 5 ½ miles (8.8 km) northeast of Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, 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...
. The house and its grounds are owned by the National Trust
National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty
The National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, usually known as the National Trust, is a conservation organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland...
and are open to the public as part of the Anglesey Abbey, Garden & Lode Mill property, although some parts remain the private home of the Fairhaven family.
The 98 acres (400,000 m²) of landscaped grounds are divided into a number of walks and gardens, with classical statuary, topiary and flowerbeds. The grounds were laid out in an 18th-century style by the estate's last private owner, the 1st Baron Fairhaven
Urban Huttleston Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven
Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven was a British nobleman, born at Fairhaven, Massachusetts in the United States, who was usually known as Huttleston Broughton....
, in the 1930s. A large pool, the Quarry Pool, is believed to be the site of a 19th-century coprolite
Coprolite
A coprolite is fossilized animal dung. Coprolites are classified as trace fossils as opposed to body fossils, as they give evidence for the animal's behaviour rather than morphology. The name is derived from the Greek words κοπρος / kopros meaning 'dung' and λιθος / lithos meaning 'stone'. They...
mine. Lode Water Mill, dating from the 18th century was restored to working condition in 1982 and now sells flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
to visitors.
The 1st Lord Fairhaven also improved the house and decorated its interior with a valuable collection of furniture, pictures and objets d'art.
History
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
here, known as Anglesea or Anglesey Priory, some time during the reign of Henry I
Henry I of England
Henry I was the fourth son of William I of England. He succeeded his elder brother William II as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106...
(i.e., between 1100 and 1135), and acquired extra land from the nearby village of Bottisham
Bottisham
Bottisham is a village and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about east of Cambridge, halfway to Newmarket. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,983.-Church:...
in 1279. The canons were expelled in 1535 during 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 former priory was acquired around 1600 by Thomas Hobson
Thomas Hobson
Thomas Hobson , sometimes called "The Cambridge Carrier", is best known as the name behind the expression Hobson's choice....
, who converted it to a country house for his son-in-law, Thomas Parker, retaining a few arches from the original priory. At that time the building's name was changed to "Anglesey Abbey", which sounded grander than the original "Anglesey Priory".
In the late 18th century, the house was owned by Sir George Downing
Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet
Sir George Downing, 3rd Baronet, KB was a politician and, through a donation in his will, the founder of Downing College, Cambridge.Gordon Goodwin, ‘Downing, Sir George, third baronet ’, rev...
, the founder of Downing College, Cambridge
Downing College, Cambridge
Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1800 and currently has around 650 students.- History :...
.
Further alterations to the building were carried out in 1861.
Huttleston
Urban Huttleston Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven
Urban Huttleston Rogers Broughton, 1st Baron Fairhaven was a British nobleman, born at Fairhaven, Massachusetts in the United States, who was usually known as Huttleston Broughton....
(1896–1966) and Henry (1900–1973) Broughton bought the site in 1926 and made improvements to the house. They were the sons of Urban Broughton
Urban H. Broughton
Urban Hanlon Broughton was an English civil engineer, railroad and mining executive, and Conservative Party Member of Parliament. In 1929, he was in line for elevation to the peerage, but he died in January before the process was finalized...
(1857–1929), who had made a fortune in the mining and railway industries in America. Henry married, leaving the abbey to his brother, then 1st Lord Fairhaven, in 1930. Henry became the 2nd Lord Fairhaven. Huttleston used his wealth to indulge his interests in history, art, and garden design, and to lead an eighteenth-century lifestyle at the house. On his death, Huttleston left the abbey to the National Trust so that the house and gardens could "represent an age and way of life that was quickly passing".
Gardens
Rose
A rose is a woody perennial of the genus Rosa, within the family Rosaceae. There are over 100 species. They form a group of erect shrubs, and climbing or trailing plants, with stems that are often armed with sharp prickles. Flowers are large and showy, in colours ranging from white through yellows...
garden and the dahlia
Dahlia
Dahlia is a genus of bushy, tuberous, perennial plants native to Mexico, Central America, and Colombia. There are at least 36 species of dahlia, some like D. imperialis up to 10 metres tall. Dahlia hybrids are commonly grown as garden plants...
garden, which contain many dozens of varieties. Out of season the spring garden and winter dell are famed nationally, particularly in February when the snowdrop
Snowdrop
Galanthus is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous herbaceous plants in the Amaryllis family, subfamily Amaryllidoideae...
s first appear.
The lawns of the South Park are mown less frequently and this allows the many wildflower
Wildflower
A wildflower is a flower that grows wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. Yet "wildflower" meadows of a few mixed species are sold in seed packets. The term "wildflower" has been made vague by commercial seedsmen who are interested in selling more flowers or seeds more...
s to flower and set seed. Over 50 species of wildflower have been recorded, including Bee Orchid
Bee Orchid
The Bee Orchid is an herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the family Orchidaceae.-Etymology:The name "Ophrys" derives from the Greek word "ophrys", meaning "eyebrow", while the Latin name of the species "apifera" refers to the bee-shaped lip.-Description: The Bee Orchid grows to a height of ....
, Twayblade, Pyramidal Orchid
Pyramidal orchid
The Pyramidal Orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis, is an herbaceous perennial plant belonging to the Genus Anacamptis of the family Orchidaceae...
and Common spotted orchid
Common spotted orchid
The Common Spotted-orchid is acommonly occurring species of European orchid. It is widely variable in colour and height, ranging from 15 to 60 cm in height. The flower colour can vary from white to pale purple with purple spots. The lip has three lobes...
. In mid-summer, there are large numbers of butterflies such as Meadow Brown
Meadow Brown
The Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina, is a butterfly found in European meadows, where its larvae feed on grasses, such as Sheep's Fescue.Similar species are Gatekeeper and Small Heath ....
, Gatekeeper
Gatekeeper Butterfly
The Gatekeeper sometimes called the Hedge Brown is a common butterfly in the United Kingdom. It is a member of the subfamily Satyrinae in the family Nymphalidae. A similar species is the Meadow Brown; the two species can be difficult to distinguish with closed wings since underwing markings are...
, Small Skipper
Small Skipper
The Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris butterfly of the Hesperiidae family.-Appearance, behaviour and distribution:It has a rusty orange colour to the wings, upper body and the tips of the antennae. The body is silvery white below and it has a wingspan of 25–30 mm. This butterfly is very...
s and Marbled Whites.
Origin of the name
The name Anglesey is not a reference to the WelshWales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
island known as Anglesey
Anglesey
Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...
in English, although the two names do have some etymology
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
in common. Anglesey Priory was built on what was, before improvements in the drainage of the area, an island. In both place names, as in many other place names in Britain, the final -ey is from a Germanic word meaning 'isle'. In the case of the Welsh island, Angle- is from an Old Norse word ǫngull, which is either a personal name, or a word meaning 'angle' or 'corner'. In the case of the Priory, Angle- is probably a reference to the Angles
Angles
The Angles is a modern English term for a Germanic people who took their name from the ancestral cultural region of Angeln, a district located in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany...
, a Germanic people who invaded the east of England in the 5th century. The anterior origin of this name is debatable, with some versions linking it to 'angle', a reference to the shape of their homeland, and others claiming a reference to 'angling'. However, it is likely that the name refers to the fact that the Fens and its islands were home to a native British (Brythonic) population, and that the Angles were an island community within a predominantly Celtic landscape.