Abbecourt Abbey (french: Abbaye d'Abbecourt; Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Abbecourt; la, Beata Maria de Alba Curia) is a former
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
Yvelines
Yvelines () is a department in the western part of the Île-de-France region in Northern France. In 2019, it had a population of 1,448,207.oratory,Data.BNF.fr: Abbaye Notre-Dame d'Abbecourt. Orgeval, Yvelines /ref> the abbey was founded, either in 1142 or 1180, by Gasun, seigneur of
Poissy
Poissy () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Pisciacais'' in French.
Poissy is one of ...
. It was a daughter house of
Marcheroux Abbey
Marcheroux Abbey (french: Abbaye de Marcheroux or ; la, Marchasium Radulphi) is a former Premonstratensian monastery dedicated in honour of Saint Nicholas in Beaumont-les-Nonains in Les Hauts-Talican south of Beauvais, Picardy, France. The site h ...
, now in Oise. The church was consecrated in 1191.
The buildings were damaged in 1340, in the
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...
, and destroyed by the English between 1420 and 1437. Reconstruction began at the end of the 17th century, during the abbacy of Jean Penillon. In the early 18th century a pond on the site was discovered to have supposedly health-giving mineral properties and taking its waters became an attraction for the court of
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
, the royal
Château of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
A château (; plural: châteaux) is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor, or a fine country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally, and still most frequently, in French-speaking regions.
Nowaday ...
being nearby.
In about 1740 the former almoner of Louis XV, the Abbé Louis Grisard,Bonnet, Ph., ''Les constructions de l'ordre de Prémontré en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles'', (1980), pp.103-104 replaced the guest accommodation, besides adding a gallery to the cloister and making alterations to the principal building and the dormitory. In 1741, the architect Louis François Herbet drew up plans for a new church, construction of which was completed by the architect Claude-Louis d'Aviler from 1743 to 1749. In the 1780s the dormitory was rebuilt by Jean-François Raimbert.
The monastery was suppressed in the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...
, when the church was destroyed. The site was used as a source of stone, and in 1827 all the remaining buildings were demolished. Only a few ruins remain and the toponym "Allée d'Abbecourt".