Burnham Abbey was a house of Augustinian canonesses regular near

Burnham Burnham may refer to: Places Canada *Burnham, Saskatchewan England *Burnham, Buckinghamshire ** Burnham railway station ** Burnham Grammar School *Burnham Green, Hertfordshire, location of The White Horse * Burnham, Lincolnshire **High Burnham, ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England. It was founded in 1266 by

Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall Richard (5 January 1209 – 2 April 1272) was an English prince who was King of the Romans from 1257 until his death in 1272. He was the second son of John, King of England, and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême. Richard was nominal Count of Poi ...

. The abbey of

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

consisted of around twenty nuns at the outset, but was never wealthy and by the time of its dissolution in 1539 there were only ten. Since 1916 the surviving buildings have been the home of an Anglican contemplative community, the

Society of the Precious Blood The Society of the Precious Blood is an Anglican religious order of contemplative sisters with convents in England, Lesotho and South Africa. The sisters follow the Rule of St Augustine. History The Order dates its history from 1905 when Mother ...

who retain the name "Burnham Abbey".

History

The abbey was founded in 1265/6 by

Richard, Earl of Cornwall Richard (5 January 1209 – 2 April 1272) was an English prince who was King of the Romans from 1257 until his death in 1272. He was the second son of John, King of England, and Isabella, Countess of Angoulême. Richard was nominal Count of Po ...

, styled King of the Romans, the brother of King Henry III. Richard endowed it with several manors, including the manor of Burnham, and 'land appurtenant to the manor of

Cippenham Cippenham is a suburb of Slough. Close by are the neighbouring towns and villages of Beaconsfield, Farnham Common, Burnham, Gerrards Cross, Stoke Poges, Windsor and Taplow. Originally part of the parish of Burnham in the county of Buckingham ...

with a mill, fishery and other rights'. The abbey was situated about a half mile from Burnham. A complaint was made shortly after the foundation that Richard had diverted a watercourse to the abbey that had been used by a nearby village and that he also had given of common land to the monastery. It is unknown whether this issue was resolved. In 1311 a nun, Margery of Hedsor, left the monastery and her vows and was subsequently

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

. This sentence was renewed periodically for some years until it was cancelled by the Bishop for reasons unknown. A serious legal dispute occurred in 1330, concerning the ownership of the manor of Bulstrode, which had been granted to the abbey but was claimed by a Geoffrey de Bulstrode, who in protest proceeded to vandalise the property and harass the servants of the abbess. Eventually a commission found in favour of the abbey, but by then there had been substantial losses.

Seizure

Having few assets, Burnham Abbey should have been closed in the first wave of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, but a petition by local commissioners delayed its end until 1539. The document of surrender, dated 19 September 1539, was signed by Alice Baldwin, as Abbess, and the nine remaining nuns. There were also two priests. At the dissolution, the Abbey's revenues were estimated at £51 2s 4-1/2d. The Abbess was granted a small pension and appears to have spent her remaining years at Aylesbury at the home of her father, Sir John Baldwin, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.

Later ownership

In 1544 a grant of the site of the abbey was made to William Tyldesley, a

Groom of the Chamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in Eng ...

, and in 1574 Queen Elizabeth granted a lease of the property to

Paul Wentworth Paul Wentworth (1533–1593), a prominent English member of parliament (1559, 1563 and 1572) in the reign of Elizabeth I, was a member of the Lillingstone Lovell branch of the family. Life His father Sir Nicholas Wentworth (died 1557) was chi ...

, who had married Tyldesley's widow, Helen. In 1569,

Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, (Kenninghall, Norfolk, 10 March 1536Tower Hill, London, 2 June 1572) was an English nobleman and politician. Although from a family with strong Roman Catholic leanings, he was raised a Protestant. He was a ...

, was detained there before being sent to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is separa ...

. The church was demolished in about 1570 and a house was formed from much of the remaining buildings. By 1719, it was a farm with some of the buildings such as the refectory in poor condition. In 1913 James Lawrence Bissley, an architect and surveyor, purchased the property and restored the remaining buildings, converting the original

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

into a chapel. In 1916 he sold the property to the

, a community of Anglican Augustinian nuns, who took possession and began to restore and extend the abbey for their use. The Abbey is a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, while the associated walls and structures are Grade II. The chapter house,

sacristy A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

, and parts of the

frater Frater is the Latin word for brother. *In Roman Catholicism, a monk who is not a priest Frater may also refer to: People Surname * Alexander Frater (1937–2020), New Hebrides travel writer and journalist * Anne Frater, Scottish poet from Baybl ...

and

infirmary Infirmary may refer to: *Historically, a hospital, especially a small hospital *A first aid room in a school, prison, or other institution *A dispensary (an office that dispenses medications) *A clinic A clinic (or outpatient clinic or ambu ...

remain of the medieval nunnery.

Gallery

Burnham Abbey.JPG, Ruins of Burnham Abbey (from ''The New British Traveller'', 1819) Burnham Abbey - geograph.org.uk - 901578.jpg, Burnham Abbey, current buildings Burnham Abbey - Nun at prayer in chapel - geograph.org.uk - 901585.jpg, Nun at prayer in the chapel

References

* 'House of Austin nuns: The abbey of Burnham', ''A History of the County of Buckingham'': Volume 1 (1905), pp. 382–84. * Anthony New; ''A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales'', pp. 88–90. Constable.

External links