Keynsham Abbey
William, Earl of Gloucester | |
Site | |
---|---|
Location | Keynsham, Somerset, England |
Coordinates | 51°25′02″N 2°29′46″W / 51.4172°N 2.4961°W |
Keynsham Abbey in
Location
Keynsham Abbey stood on the south side of the
History
Foundation
There had been a religious settlement in Keynsham during the 9th and 10th centuries,
At its foundation, the whole of the manor and the hundred of Keynsham, which covered an area of 24,520 acres (9,920 ha), was conferred upon the abbey.[3] This included the parishes of Brislington, Burnett, Chelwood, Compton Dando, Farmborough, Keynsham, Marksbury, Nempnett Thrubwell, Pensford, Priston, Publow, Queen Charlton, Saltford, Stanton Drew, Stanton Prior, and Whitchurch.[3] This also included numerous parish properties such as the church of St. Mary and St. Peter and St. Paul, and the chapels of Brislington, Charlton, Felton (or Whitchurch), Publow and Pensford.[2]
The arms of the abbey included six golden clarions or trumpets on a red ground, from the de Clares, Earls of Gloucester.[4]
Growth and management
In 1276,
As the centuries progressed, the abbey seems to have had occasional struggles with discipline issues. In 1350, the bishop drew attention to the fact that the canons were failing to properly guard and secure the outer gate of the abbey, and that the ornaments of the church and treasures of the house would be easily stolen as they were so poorly guarded.[2] The canons were also admonished to keep better household accounts, attend prayers more regularly, and give up luxuries such as hunting dogs and dining outside the precinct. In 1353, the bishop visited again, and found great neglect throughout the abbey. The doors were again unguarded, household accounts were not properly kept, prayers were not attended to regularly, and up to two-thirds of the canons were regularly missing community meals and engaging in gaming. A similar issue arose again in 1450, and the bishop had many similar complaints and admonishments about the management and upkeep of the abbey.[2]
Dissolution and deconstruction
The
The surrender of the abbey began a 400-year period of disassembly and robbing the site for suitable building materials.[5] The changes began almost immediately: within two years of the surrender of the abbey, the conventual church began to be dismantled and sold off. Records indicate that Richard Walker was paid £12 for melting the lead on the church, the cloister, and the steeple at Keynsham.[2] Frances Edwards bought the seven bells of the church, and various unused buildings attached to it. The entire site was eventually sold to Thomas Bridges, who dismantled the existing structures and built his family house on the site. In 1559, Bridges bequeathed additional leftover stone from the Abbey Church for the repair of the bridge and causeway over the nearby River Avon.
The house built by the Bridges family was demolished in 1776. Victorian housebuilders and excavators began taking stone from the site in 1865, and continued until the turn of the century, until only isolated stretches of unsuitable stone or stone buried under discarded material were left.[5] In some places, so much material was disturbed and excavated for reuse that quarrying penetrated down to bedrock.[5]
20th century
In the 1960s, plans were made for the Keynsham bypass of the A4 to pass directly through the site of the abbey, which would necessarily destroy what was left of portions of the site. An archaeological excavation was made in advance of the construction. Amongst the finds was a fipple flute, a type of early
Burials
- Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford died at Thornbury Castle on 21 December 1495, and was buried at Keynsham Abbey, which Lady Agnes Cheyne, the incumbent of Chenies Manor House, bequeathed to him in 1494.[10]
- William Fitz Robert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester
- Robert Fitzwilliam, his son
See also
- List of Grade I listed buildings in Bath and North East Somerset
- List of towers in Somerset
References
- ISBN 1-4120-9534-4.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Page, William. "Houses of Augustinian Canons: 12. The Abbey of Keynsham". BHO: British History Online. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^ a b "National Gazetteer (1868) - Miscellaneous". GEN UKI. he National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 12 June 2015.
- ^ "Keynsham Urban District Council". Civic heraldry of England and Wales. Retrieved 19 July 2009.
- ^ a b c Lowe, Barbara (2006). "Keynsham Abbey Excavations 1961–1991 Final Report Part II: Summary and Review" (PDF). Somerset Archaeology and Natural History. 149. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- JSTOR 841627.
- ^ Historic England. "Keynsham Abbey pier base in the garden of No.3 (1384576)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ Historic England. "Keynsham Abbey, remains to the south of No.3 (1384577)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ Historic England. "The Abbey (Scheduled Monument) (1005416)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
- ^ "21 December 1495 - Death of Jasper Tudor". The Tudor Society. 21 December 2015.
Further reading
- Lowe, Barbara J. (1992). Keynsham Abbey Excavations 1961–1991. Final Report Part I The Architecture of Keynsham Abbey. Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Society.
- Lowe, Barbara J. (1978). Medieval Floor Tiles of Keynsham Abbey.