| Date | 31 October 2015 |
|---|---|
| Source | Slough Observer |
| Reference | VP-0090 |
| Volume | Views of the Past |
| Collection | Views of the Past |
Transcript
Abbey founded by Earl
BURNHAM Abbey was founded for a community of Augustinian Canonesses in 1266 by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III, reputedly in thanksgiving for his release from captivity after the Battle of Lewes in 1265.
At the time, while the abbey was being built, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, had a new manor house built for him at Cippenham. The remains of the moat can still be seen close to the Asda Superstore.
The abbey was built around a cloister garth, with a frater, church, guest house, kitchen and two-storey quarters for the nuns. The infirmary was a separate building connected by a passage to the east range.
It continued to operate until it was suppressed at the Reformation and the Abbess and nine nuns, who formed the community in 1539, dispersed.
After the dissolution, the abbey was leased ot William Tyldesley and subsequenly caem in the possession of the Wentworth family. The church was demolished and a private house formed from much of the remaining buildings.
It later became a farm, and the buildings gradually fell into disrepair.
In 1913, it was purchased by James Lawrence Bissley, an architect, surveyor and builder who restored the remaining buildings and converted the original pre-Reformation chapter house into a chapel.
There is still some medieval masonry from the north wall of the ancient church in the present refectory.
Most of the east range still has medieval walls. Further sections of the original abbey are in the Sisters’ garden.
In 1916, James Bissley sold the property to the Society of the Precious Blood (its present incumbents) who, in 1952, enlarged the chapel without spoiling its simplicity.
The Society of the Precious Blood began as an active community, dating from 1905 when Mother Millicent Mary SPB (formerly Millicent Taylor) took vows in the parish of St Jude, Birmingham.
In 1909, the community migrated from the slums of central Birmingham to an old farmhouse in the parish of King’s Heath, south of Birmingham, and then moved to Hendon, London, in 1914. While there, the number of nuns increased and they started to look for a new home, and Burnham Abbey was on the market.
The Community moved to Burnham Abbey in 1916, 650 years after the first dedication of the abbey.
ROYAL HISTORY: Burnham Abbey in the 18th Century.
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