Stanley Abbey was a medieval

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

near

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, England, which flourished between 1151 and 1536.

Foundation

Stanley Abbey Ground Plan Brakspear 1907 29

The abbey was given by

Empress Matilda Empress Matilda ( 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as ...

in 1151 to monks from

Quarr Abbey Quarr Abbey (French: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Quarr'') is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as "Kwor" (rhyming with "for"). It belongs to the Catholi ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

. Originally at Loxwell, to the east of

, it moved to nearby

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

in 1154. The abbey grew in size in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, reaching a size of at its largest. Its influence also grew, Abbot Nicholas entertaining King John in October 1200 and in 1210 Abbot Thomas of Calstone attending the meeting of King John and the Cistercian abbots at York. In 1280

King Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal ...

gave stone to the abbey for a chamber to be built for his own use, and according to the abbey chronicle he made use of it in the spring of 1282. Princess Mary, the bishop of Salisbury and

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

were all reported to have stayed at the abbey during the first years of the fourteenth century. Its operation finally ceased as a result of the dissolution of the monasteries. The last abbot was Thomas Calne (also called Morley), and the abbey was dissolved in February 1536. Nothing now remains ''in situ'' except a green site on private property, but access may be obtained to visit it from Old Abbey Farm.

Subsequent history

At the dissolution the land passed into the possession of Sir Edward Baynton, who plundered the materials to build his

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were held the lord's manorial courts, communal meals w ...

at Bromham. In 1864 the land was sold by John Bayntun Starky to Gabriel Goldney of Chippenham. At various times since, remains such as burial places and a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

's forge, as well as coins and tiles, have been found.

Harold Brakspear Sir Harold Brakspear KCVO (10 March 1870 – 20 November 1934) was an English restoration architect and archaeologist. He restored a number of ancient and notable buildings, including Bath Abbey, Windsor Castle, Brownston House in Devizes and ...

's 1905 excavation discovered the layout of the monastery, including the church,

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 ...

and a

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

Its original entrance now forms the gateway to

Spye Park Spye Park is a former country estate in Bromham parish in Wiltshire, England. It lies north of Chittoe, about north-west of Bromham village and east of Lacock. The historic house which stood there, near the Roman road from London to Bath, h ...

and is known locally as Spye Arch.

References

External links

* {{authority control Monasteries in Wiltshire Cistercian monasteries in England 1151 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 1536 disestablishments in England