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Cerne Abbey was a
Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , found ...
monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...
founded in 987 in the town now called
Cerne Abbas Cerne Abbas () is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in southern England. It lies in the Dorset Council administrative area in the Cerne Valley in the Dorset Downs. The village lies just east of the A352 road north of Dorche ...
, Dorset, by Æthelmær the Stout.


History

The abbey was founded in 987 by Æthelmær the Stout.
Ælfric of Eynsham Ælfric of Eynsham ( ang, Ælfrīc; la, Alfricus, Elphricus; ) was an English abbot and a student of Æthelwold of Winchester, and a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other gen ...
, the most prolific writer in Old English, spent time at the abbey as a
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
and teacher. King Cnut plundered this monastery during an attack upon the town, but afterwards became a benefactor of it. By the time of the
Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...
, the abbey had added substantially to its endowment. Much of this wealth has been credited to the
veneration Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...
of Saint Eadwold of Cerne, a 9th-century
hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite ( adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a C ...
reputedly a brother of
Edmund, king of East Anglia Edmund the Martyr (also known as St Edmund or Edmund of East Anglia, died 20 November 869) was king of East Anglia from about 855 until his death. Few historical facts about Edmund are known, as the kingdom of East Anglia was devastated by t ...
. Eadwold lived as a hermit on a hill about four miles from Cerne. The later history appears to have been relatively uneventful; ''A History of the County of Dorset'' says that its history is "perhaps the least eventful of any of the Dorset houses with the exception of that of the sisters at Tarrant Kaines". The abbey's history ended on a less positive note, with the last
abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...
, Thomas Corton, accused of various offences including that of allowing the abbey and lands to become ruinous, and of keeping a mistress who seems to have borne him children. The accusations were taken seriously enough to warrant inspection by commissioners, and the abbey was closed in 1539. Following Dissolution of the Monasteries, the buildings were mainly demolished. Abbey House, 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 I ...
, occupies the site of the
gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...
and incorporates parts of it. Most of the house dates from after a fire in the middle of the 18th century in which the gatehouse was seriously damaged. The late 15th-century Guest House of the abbey is also Grade I listed, as is the very elaborate stone vaulted porch of the abbot's hall, built around 1500, which survives in the midst of a wooded lawn, with a Grade II* listed, early 16th century barn lying to its north. A Grade I listed, 14th-century
tithe barn A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithes. Farmers were required to give one-tenth of their produce to the established church. Tithe barns were usually associated with the ...
, converted to a house in the late 18th century, lies to its east.


Abbots of Cerne

*Ælfric, appointed about 987, on the refoundation of Cerne as a Benedictine monastery *Alfric Puttoc, occurs 1023 *Withelmus, occurs 1085 *Haimo, deposed 1102 for
simony Simony () is the act of selling church offices and roles or sacred things. It is named after Simon Magus, who is described in the Acts of the Apostles as having offered two disciples of Jesus payment in exchange for their empowering him to im ...
*William, occurs 1121 *Bernard, became abbot of Burton in 1160 *Robert, occurs 1166 *Dionysius, occurs 1206, resigned 1220 *R., elected 1220 *William de Hungerford, elected 1232 *Richard de Suwell or Sawel, elected 1244, died 1260 *Philip, elected 1260 *Thomas de Ebblesbury, elected 1274 *Gilbert de Minterne, elected 1296, died 1312 *Ralph de Cerne, elected 1312, died 1324 *Richard de Osmington, elected 1324 *Stephen Sherrard, elected 1356 *Thomas Sewale, elected 1361, died 1382 *John de Hayle, elected 1382, died in same year *Robert Symondsbury, elected 1382 *John Wede, elected 1411, died 1427 *John Winterborne, elected 1427, died 1436 *John Godmanston, elected 1436, died 1451 *William Cattistoke, elected 1451, died 1454 *John Helyer, elected 1454, resigned 1458 *John Vanne, elected 1458, died 1471 *Roger Bemyster, elected 1471, died 1497 *Thomas Sam, elected 1497, died 1509 *Robert Westbury, elected 1510, died 1524 *Thomas Corton, elected 1524, surrendered his abbey 1539


References

* Anthony New. 'A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales', p107-09. Constable. * Houses of Benedictine monks: The abbey of Cerne, A History of the County of Dorset: Volume 2 (1908), pp. 53–8. {{Benedictine houses of England and Wales 987 establishments Anglo-Saxon monastic houses Christian monasteries established in the 10th century Benedictine monasteries in England Monasteries in Dorset Grade I listed buildings in Dorset 1539 disestablishments in England 10th-century establishments in England