Launde Abbey is located in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

, England, 14 miles east of the city of

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and six miles south west of

Oakham Oakham is the county town of Rutland in the East Midlands of England, east of Leicester, south-east of Nottingham and west of Peterborough. It had a population of 10,922 in the 2011 census, estimated at 11,191 in 2019. Oakham is to the west o ...

, Rutland. The building is used as a

conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

and retreat centre by the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

dioceses of

and

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

History

The abbey is an

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...

manor house, extensively modified, originally built on the site of an Augustinian

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

Launde Priory Launde Priory is a former Augustinian priory in Leicestershire, England. Its successor Launde Abbey is used as a conference and retreat centre by the Church of England dioceses of Leicester and Peterborough. History Launde Priory was foun ...

. The original priory was founded before 1125 (in 1119 according to a modern inscription in the reception hall) by

Richard Basset Richard Basset (died between 1135 and 1144) was a royal judge and sheriff during the reign of King Henry I of England. His father was also a royal justice. In about 1122 Basset married the eventual heiress of another justice; the marriage settle ...

and his wife Matilda (née Ridel). Its revenues at the dissolution of the monasteries were £510-16-1d and payments £117-12-10d (annual value almost £400). Launde is set in countryside in the valley of the River Chater.

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false char ...

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

's chief minister responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries, so liked its position that he wrote in his diary "Myself for Launde". But Cromwell never occupied the house as he was executed in 1540 for treason. In that same year the building of the new house commenced. His son, Gregory, lived at Launde Abbey for ten years after its construction with his wife, Elizabeth, the sister of

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

the third wife of Henry VIII. In 1603 Launde was acquired by William Smith and in 1763 Dorothy Jennings sold it to John Simpson; in 1828, Mary Finch Simpson married Edward Dawson (1802-1859) of Long Whatton who by this marriage acquired Launde. They engaged

Thomas Rickman Thomas Rickman (8 June 17764 January 1841) was an English architect and architectural antiquary who was a major figure in the Gothic Revival. He is particularly remembered for his ''Attempt to Discriminate the Styles of English Architecture'' ...

to restore the house from 1829 to 1839. The Dawsons continued to own the estate throughout the 19th century. In 1957, Cecil Coleman and his wife bought the abbey and presented it to the Diocese of Leicester. They paid for the conversion works to make it into a retreat house. The chapel is thought to be all that remains of the original priory church. Some of its stained glass is mediaeval and

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, '' The Buildings of England'' ...

has described the monument to Gregory Cromwell as "one of the purest monuments of the early Renaissance in England". There are numerous memorials of the Simpson family who bought Launde in 1763 and enlarged the house and laid out the plantations. The chapel is used for daily worship by the resident community and guests and is an attraction for visitors. There is a small, 5-stop pipe organ, built by Henry Speechly in c. 1880, and restored by Roy Young in 1989. In 2009 the abbey launched a successful £1 million appeal to bring the house up to the standards required by legislation. If the money had not been raised, the abbey would have been forced to close. Both the abbey and the associated chapel are Grade II* listed buildings.

References

External links

* {{Monasteries in Leicestershire , state=expanded 1125 establishments in England 1530s disestablishments in England Augustinian monasteries in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Church of England church buildings in Leicestershire Country houses in Leicestershire Elizabethan architecture Grade II* listed buildings in Leicestershire Monasteries in Leicestershire Scheduled monuments in Leicestershire