Romsey Abbey
Encyclopedia
Romsey Abbey is a parish church
of the Church of England
in Romsey
, a market town in Hampshire
, England. Until the dissolution
it was the church of a Benedictine nunnery.
foundation. The surviving church is the town's outstanding feature, which is all the more remarkable because the abbey, as a nunnery, would have been less well financially endowed than other religious establishments of the time.
, who was son of Alfred The Great
. Later, King Edgar refounded the nunnery, in around 960, as a Benedictine
house under the rule of St Ethelflaeda who was sanctified for such acts as the chanting of psalms
late at night, whilst standing naked in the freezing water of the nearby River Test
.
The religious community continued to grow and a village grew around it to keep it supplied with produce. Both suffered in 993 when Viking
raiders sacked the village and burnt down the original church. However, the abbey was rebuilt in stone in around 1000 and the village quickly recovered. The abbey and its religious community flourished and were renowned as a seat of learning – especially for the children of the nobility.
In Norman
times a substantial, new stone abbey, primarily designed as a convent, was built on the old Anglo-Saxon foundation (circa 1130 to 1140 AD) by Henry Blois, Bishop of Winchester and Abbot of Glastonbury. Bishop Henry was the younger brother of King Stephen
and his structure dominates the town to this day. By 1240 in excess of 100 nuns were living in the community.
The abbey continued to grow and prosper until the Black Death
, struck the town in 1348-9. While it is thought that as much as half of the population of the town – which was then about 1,000 – died as a result, the number of nuns fell by over 80% to 19. This so affected the area that the overall prosperity of the abbey dwindled and it was finally suppressed by Henry VIII
during the Dissolution of the Monasteries
in 1539.
However the abbey did not suffer the fate of many other religious establishments at this time and was not demolished, although the community itself was forcibly dispersed. This was because it had, in modern terms, become "dual use". in the sense that it contained a church within a church – a substantial section being dedicated to St Lawrence and used solely by the townspeople.
Subsequently, the town purchased the abbey from the Crown
for £100 in 1544 and then set about demolishing that very section, set aside as the church of St Lawrence, that had ensured its survival in the first place.
The abbey survives today not least due to the efforts of the Reverend Edward Lyon Berthon
during the 19th century who set about restoring it to some of its former glory. It is now the largest parish church in the county and houses the tomb of Lord Mountbatten of Burma
. He had been granted the lesser title of Baron Romsey in 1947 on being given his Earldom and lived locally at Broadlands
House. He was murdered in a terrorist bomb explosion in Ireland
on 27 August 1979 and was buried in the abbey following a full state funeral in Westminster Abbey.
Still a thriving church where families worship, in October 2007 Revd Tim Sledge was appointed Vicar of Romsey.
The choir is supported by the Friends of Romsey Abbey Choir (known as FORAC), whose mandate is to assist the work of the choir through fundraising, social activities and organization of trips, often including an annual residence at a Cathedral, chaired by Harriet Lindsey.
A separate Girls' Choir was formed in 1996 by Diane Williams, wife of the then Organist and Master of the Choristers, Jeffrey Williams, to sing at the less formal 'first Sunday' morning service. The girls choir, directed now by Daphne Lindsell, occasionally joins with the boys and men for major services such as Christmas and Easter.
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
in Romsey
Romsey
Romsey is a small market town in the county of Hampshire, England.It is 8 miles northwest of Southampton and 11 miles southwest of Winchester, neighbouring the village of North Baddesley...
, a market town 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. Until 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...
it was the church of a Benedictine nunnery.
Background
The church was originally built during the 10th century, as part of a BenedictineBenedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
foundation. The surviving church is the town's outstanding feature, which is all the more remarkable because the abbey, as a nunnery, would have been less well financially endowed than other religious establishments of the time.
History
The religious community was originally established at "Rum's Eg"' meaning "the area of Rum surrounded by marshes" in 907 AD by nuns led by Elflaeda daughter of King Edward the ElderEdward the Elder
Edward the Elder was an English king. He became king in 899 upon the death of his father, Alfred the Great. His court was at Winchester, previously the capital of Wessex...
, who was son of Alfred The Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
. Later, King Edgar refounded the nunnery, in around 960, as a Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
house under the rule of St Ethelflaeda who was sanctified for such acts as the chanting of psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
late at night, whilst standing naked in the freezing water of the nearby River Test
River Test
The River Test is a river in Hampshire, England. The river has a total length of 40 miles and it flows through downland from its source near Ashe, 10 km to the west of Basingstoke , to the sea at the head of Southampton Water...
.
The religious community continued to grow and a village grew around it to keep it supplied with produce. Both suffered in 993 when Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raiders sacked the village and burnt down the original church. However, the abbey was rebuilt in stone in around 1000 and the village quickly recovered. The abbey and its religious community flourished and were renowned as a seat of learning – especially for the children of the nobility.
In Norman
Norman dynasty
Norman dynasty is the usual designation for the family that were the Dukes of Normandy and the English monarchs which immediately followed the Norman conquest and lasted until the Plantagenet dynasty came to power in 1154. It included Rollo and his descendants, and from William the Conqueror and...
times a substantial, new stone abbey, primarily designed as a convent, was built on the old Anglo-Saxon foundation (circa 1130 to 1140 AD) by Henry Blois, Bishop of Winchester and Abbot of Glastonbury. Bishop Henry was the younger brother of King Stephen
Stephen, King of England
Stephen , often referred to as Stephen of Blois , was a grandson of William the Conqueror. He was King of England from 1135 to his death, and also the Count of Boulogne by right of his wife. Stephen's reign was marked by the Anarchy, a civil war with his cousin and rival, the Empress Matilda...
and his structure dominates the town to this day. By 1240 in excess of 100 nuns were living in the community.
The abbey continued to grow and prosper until the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
, struck the town in 1348-9. While it is thought that as much as half of the population of the town – which was then about 1,000 – died as a result, the number of nuns fell by over 80% to 19. This so affected the area that the overall prosperity of the abbey dwindled and it was finally suppressed by 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...
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...
in 1539.
However the abbey did not suffer the fate of many other religious establishments at this time and was not demolished, although the community itself was forcibly dispersed. This was because it had, in modern terms, become "dual use". in the sense that it contained a church within a church – a substantial section being dedicated to St Lawrence and used solely by the townspeople.
Subsequently, the town purchased the abbey from the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
for £100 in 1544 and then set about demolishing that very section, set aside as the church of St Lawrence, that had ensured its survival in the first place.
The abbey survives today not least due to the efforts of the Reverend Edward Lyon Berthon
Edward Lyon Berthon
Edward Lyon Berthon , English inventor, was born in London, the son of an army contractor and descendant of an old Huguenot family.-Life:...
during the 19th century who set about restoring it to some of its former glory. It is now the largest parish church in the county and houses the tomb of Lord Mountbatten of Burma
Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma
Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
. He had been granted the lesser title of Baron Romsey in 1947 on being given his Earldom and lived locally at Broadlands
Broadlands
Broadlands is an English country house, located near the town of Romsey in Hampshire, England, United Kingdom.-History:The original manor and area known as Broadlands has belonged to Romsey Abbey since before the time of the 11-century English Norman Conquest.After the Dissolution of the...
House. He was murdered in a terrorist bomb explosion in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
on 27 August 1979 and was buried in the abbey following a full state funeral in Westminster Abbey.
Still a thriving church where families worship, in October 2007 Revd Tim Sledge was appointed Vicar of Romsey.
Bells
The church's bells were once housed in a detached campanile. After its demolition in 1625, the set of six bells was transferred to a wooden belfry on top of the central tower. They were replaced by a new set of eight in 1791; the heaviest, the tenor, weighing 26 cwt. Three of the bells were recast in 1932. The bells and their eighteenth century bell frame were restored in 2007, when removing the crown reduced the weight of the tenor to 22 cwt.Romsey Abbey Choir
Romsey Abbey maintains a traditional choir of boys and men, who normally sing two services each week during term time, including a full Choral Evensong at least once a month. The choristers are drawn from a variety of local state and private schools, whilst the gentlemen of the choir are all volunteers. The choir is directed by the Abbey Organist and Master of the Choristers, Robert Fielding, and accompanied on the organ by the Assistant Organist, Adrian Taylor.The choir is supported by the Friends of Romsey Abbey Choir (known as FORAC), whose mandate is to assist the work of the choir through fundraising, social activities and organization of trips, often including an annual residence at a Cathedral, chaired by Harriet Lindsey.
A separate Girls' Choir was formed in 1996 by Diane Williams, wife of the then Organist and Master of the Choristers, Jeffrey Williams, to sing at the less formal 'first Sunday' morning service. The girls choir, directed now by Daphne Lindsell, occasionally joins with the boys and men for major services such as Christmas and Easter.
The organs
Romsey Abbey has two organs. The main instrument was built by J W Walker & Sons in 1858 and replaced an earlier instrument by Henry Coster. The Walker Organ was rebuilt in its present position and enlarged in 1888. Major restoration work was carried out by J W Walker & Sons Ltd in 1995/96 under the supervision of the abbey's organist Jeffrey Williams, restoring the mechanical actions and overhauling all of the pipe work. 1999 saw the construction of a completely new Nave Organ with pipe work located on the South Triforium. This can be played either from a mobile console in the nave or from the main console.Organist & Master of the Choristers
- Francis Wellman
- W. Mason 1864 – ????
- ??? Beazley
- William Cary Bliss 1888 – 1899
- J. C. Richards ca. 1907
- R. T. Bevan ca. 1921
- W. C. Cornwall
- Charles Tryhorn
- Charles Piper
- Anthony Burns-Cox 1980–1990
- Jeffrey Williams 1990–2004
- Robert Fielding 2004–present
Assistant Organists
- Jeffrey Williams 1982–1990
- Paul Isted 1991–1996
- Timothy Rogerson 1996–2005
- David Coram 2005–2008
- James Eaton 2008–2010
- Adrian Taylor 2011–present