Torre Abbey is a historic building and art gallery in
Torquay
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...
, Devon, which lies in the
South West of England
South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities an ...
. It was founded in 1196 as a
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 whi ...
for
Premonstratensian canons, and is now the best-preserved medieval monastery in Devon and Cornwall. In addition to its medieval and Georgian rooms, Torre Abbey is known for the formal gardens on
Abbey Park and Meadows, for the third largest art collection in the county of Devon and for regular exhibitions by contemporary artists.
History
![Agatha Christie plaque -Torre Abbey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a4/Agatha_Christie_plaque_-Torre_Abbey.jpg)
In 1196 six
Premonstratensian canons from the
Welbeck Abbey
Welbeck Abbey in the Dukeries in North Nottinghamshire was the site of a monastery belonging to the Premonstratensian order in England and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a country house residence of the Dukes of Portland. It is o ...
in
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...
founded Torre Abbey when
William Brewer, lord of the manor of Torre, gave them land. By 1536 the Abbey's annual income made it the wealthiest of all the Premonstratensian houses in England. The canons surrendered to
King Henry's VIII's commissioner in 1539 at the
Dissolution of the Monasteries and immediately thereafter in 1539 a 21-year lease of the site and
demesne of Torre Abbey was acquired by Sir
Hugh I Pollard (fl.1535,1545),
lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
of the
manor of King's Nympton
The Manor of King's Nympton was a manor largely co-terminous with the parish of King's Nympton in Devon, England.
Descent of the manor
At the time of the Domesday Book of 1086, the whole manor of ''Nimetone'', in the hundred of Witheridge, belo ...
,
Sheriff of Devon
The High Sheriff of Devon is the Queen's representative for the County of Devon, a territory known as his/her bailiwick. Selected from three nominated people, they hold the office for one year. They have judicial, ceremonial and administrative f ...
in 1535/6 and
Recorder of Barnstaple
The Recorder of Barnstaple was a recorder, a form of senior judicial officer, usually an experienced barrister, within the jurisdiction of the Borough of Barnstaple in Devon. He was usually a member of the local North Devonshire gentry. The po ...
in 1545. In 1543 Pollard acquired the freehold from
John St. Leger (d.1596) of
Annery, who had himself acquired it in 1543 with other lands from the king in exchange for some lands and payment of a cash balance.
Dissolution resulted in a widescale demolition of the church and east range, and all items of value, including the lead from the roofs, were taken. The south and west ranges were mostly unscathed and, in 1598, were converted into a house for
Thomas Ridgeway. After a succession of various owners, the house became the possession of the
Cary family
The Cary family (also Carey) is an English aristocratic family with a branch in Ireland. The earliest known ancestor of the family is Sir Adam de Kari who was living in 1198. Sir John Cary (died 1395) purchased the Manor of Clovelly in the 14th ce ...
in 1662. The house continued in the possession of the Cary family until 1930 when the mansion and grounds were sold by Commander Henry Cary to the
Torquay Borough Council
Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignt ...
, although the family continued to own the surrounding estate and the (notional) lordship of the manor of Tor Mohun. Monuments to various members of the Cary family survive in St Saviour's Church. The building has since been used as a municipal art gallery; the mayor's parlour and, during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, it was used by the
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...
. Torre Abbey is owned and managed by
Torbay Council
Torbay Council is the local authority of Torbay in Devon, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government services including Council Ta ...
. After a £6.5 million refurbishment made possible by grants from the
Heritage Lottery Fund
The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom.
History
The fund's predecessor bodies were ...
,
English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
and the Friends of Torre Abbey, Torre Abbey reopened in July 2008.
Buildings
The main abbey comprises two Grade I listed buildings. Though the church is little more than a ruin, the west and south sides of the cloisters are still standing. The gatehouse dates from around 1380, and the
barrel vault above the chapel, formerly the guest hall, dates from the 15th century. The
tithe barn
A tithe barn was a type of barn used in much of northern Europe in the Middle Ages for storing rents and tithe
A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious orga ...
, built along with the abbey in the early thirteenth century, is known as ''The Spanish Barn'' after it was used for fourteen days to hold 397
prisoners of war from the
Spanish Armada in 1588. Around 1740 the buildings underwent extensive alterations, giving them a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
remodelling that is mostly intact today. The Cary family invested in further reconstructions throughout the 19th century, including the construction of a small brewery.
St Michael's Chapel on the summit of Chapel Hill, in Torquay may have belonged to the Abbey.
Art exhibitions
The permanent exhibitions focus on paintings of the 19th century including pictures of national standing as
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
and the
Pre-Raphaelite
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James ...
works of
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...
(''The Planets'', series of cartoons) or
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolis ...
(''The Children's Holiday''). Torre Abbey also houses the contents of the studio of
Frederick Thrupp, the largest collection by an individual Victorian sculptor to survive in the UK. The Abbey also provides a programme of contemporary art exhibitions, including
Antony Gormley's ''Field for the British Isles'' in 2009 and
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst (; né
Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...
's ''Mother and Child, Divided'' in 2010. The annual Torre Abbey Contemporary Open exhibition (TACO) provides a showcase for artists from the South West.
Miscellaneous
During his time in command of the
Channel Fleet between 1800 and 1801
Admiral John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent
Admiral of the Fleet John Jervis, 1st Earl of St Vincent (9 January 1735 – 13 March 1823) was an admiral in the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Jervis served throughout the latter half of the 18th century and into ...
lived at the Abbey when he was too ill to remain with the fleet.
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
*Rhodes, Michael, ''Devon's Torre Abbey: Faith, Politics and Grand Designs'', 201
External links
*{{Official website, http://www.torre-abbey.org.uk/
Religious buildings and structures completed in 1196
12th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom
Monasteries in Devon
Premonstratensian monasteries in England
Country houses in Devon
Grade I listed churches in Devon
Grade I listed monasteries
1196 establishments in England
1539 disestablishments in England
Buildings and structures in Torquay
Historic house museums in Devon
Art museums and galleries in Devon
Religious museums in England
Religious organizations established in the 1190s
Christian monasteries established in the 12th century
12th-century church buildings in England