Quarr Abbey (Cistercian)
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Quarr Abbey (
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
: ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Quarr'') is a monastery between the villages of
Binstead Binstead is a village on the Isle of Wight. It is located in the northeast part of the Island, west of Ryde on the main road A3054 between Ryde and Newport. In the 2011 Census Binstead had been incorporated within Ryde whilst still retaining it ...
and
Fishbourne Fishbourne may refer to: Places * Fishbourne, Isle of Wight, a village * Fishbourne, West Sussex, a village ** Fishbourne (UK electoral ward) * Fishbourne Roman Palace, an archaeological site in West Sussex People * William Fishbourn (1677–17 ...
on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as "Kwor" (rhyming with "for"). It belongs to the Catholic Order of St Benedict. The Grade I listed monastic buildings and church, completed in 1912, are considered some of the most important twentieth-century religious structures in the United Kingdom; Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the Abbey as "among the most daring and successful church buildings of the early 20th century in England". They were constructed from Belgian brick in a style combining French, Byzantine and Moorish architectural elements. In the vicinity are a few remains of the original twelfth-century abbey. A community of fewer than a dozen monks maintains the monastery's regular life and the attached farm. , the community provides two-month internships for young men.


History


Cistercian monastery

St. Mary's Abbey at Quarr was part of the
Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...
Order and was founded in 1132 by
Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon (died 4 June 1155), feudal baron of Plympton in Devon, was the son of Richard de Redvers and his wife Adeline Peverel. He was one of the first to rebel against King Stephen, and was the only first rank magnat ...
, fourth Lord of the Isle of Wight."Quarr Abbey" World Monuments Fund
/ref> The founder was buried in the Abbey in 1155, and his remains, along with those of a royal princess, Cecily of York (died 1507), second daughter of King
Edward IV of England Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...
and godmother of
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 ...
, still lie on the site of the mediaeval monastery, as do other important personages.
Arreton Manor Arreton Manor is a manor house in Arreton, Isle of Wight, England. Its history is traced to 872 AD to the time of King Alfred the Great and his parents. It was left by King Alfred by his will to his youngest son Aethelweard. Once owned by William ...
was part of the abbey from the 12th century until 1525. The name Quarr comes from ' quarry', because there used to be a stone quarry in the neighbourhood. The original title of the monastery was the Abbey of Our Lady and St John. Stone from the quarry was used in the Middle Ages for both ecclesiastical and military buildings, for example for parts of the Tower of London. This site became a valuable and productive property. Because of this, it was the tradition for the abbot to be appointed warden or lord of the island. The prevalence of piracy in the area led to the granting in 1340 of special permission to fortify the area against attack. A stone wall, sea gate and portcullis were constructed. The ruins of these defences are still visible.


Secular ownership

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, the land was acquired by a Southampton merchant, George Mills who demolished most of the abbey. Its stone was used for fortifications at the nearby towns of
Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...
and Yarmouth. One of the three abbey bells is preserved in the belfry of the nearby Anglican parish church, originally built by the monks of Quarr Abbey for their lay dependants. Salvaged stone was also used to build
Quarr Abbey House The Quarr Abbey House was one of several houses constructed along the north coast of the Isle of Wight in southern England. Built in the 19th century from the ruins of a Norman abbey, it was a residence of the Cochrane family and was later incorp ...
.


Modern abbey


Exile of Solesmes

A nineteenth-century French law banned religious orders except by special dispensation, though its application varied with changes of government. As a precaution, Abbot Paul Delatte (1848–1937) of the Benedictine Solesmes Abbey had sent a monk to England to look for a house to shelter the community. A crisis came in 1880, when congregations were ordered to apply for authorisation within three months. Although this was at first brutally enforced against men's communities, protests resulted in gradual abandonment of the measures. Congregations were reconstituted. On 1 July 1901, however, tolerance towards religious communities came to an end with the passing of a new law. The founder of Solesmes,
Prosper Guéranger Prosper Louis Pascal Guéranger (; commonly referred to as Dom Guéranger, 4 April 1805, Sablé-sur-Sarthe, France – 30 January 1875, Solesmes, France) was a French priest and Benedictine monk, who served for nearly 40 years as the Abbot of ...
, had originally thought of England as a possible place of refuge should the community have to go into exile. Moreover, since 1896, at the invitation of the former Empress Eugénie, the Solesmes Benedictines had taken over as a priory the former
Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...
house of Farnborough Abbey, which sheltered the tomb of Napoleon III.


Appuldurcombe House

Finally, at the end of July, attention was drawn to a suitable 'large house on the Isle of Wight which seems to meet the requirements of the monks',
Appuldurcombe House Appuldurcombe House (also spelt Appledorecombe or Appledore Combe) is the shell of a large 18th-century English Baroque country house of the Worsley family. The house is situated near to Wroxall on the Isle of Wight, England. It is now managed b ...
near Wroxall on the Isle of Wight. The house was viewed and accepted, and a lease contract was signed on 19 August 1901. A former monastic site, the construction of the house had been begun in 1701 by Sir Robert Worsley on the site of a Tudor manor house and completed much later (1773) by Sir
Richard Worsley General Sir Richard Edward Worsley (29 May 1923 – 23 February 2013) was a senior British Army officer who fought in the Second World War and later commanded 1st (British) Corps. Early life Worsley was born on 29 May 1923 at Ballywalter ...
who, from 1787, also established there what was to become a well-known art collection. On the death of Sir Richard in 1805, the estate passed to his niece, who was married to the Second Baron and first
Earl of Yarborough Earl of Yarborough is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1837 for Charles Anderson-Pelham, 2nd Baron Yarborough. History The Anderson-Pelham family descends from Francis Anderson of Manby, Lincolnshire. He marrie ...
. The family connection with the house ended in 1855, when the estate was sold off by her son, the Second Earl of Yarborough. The monks wasted no time in beginning their transfer from Solesmes to the Isle of Wight and, on Saturday 21 September 1901, practically the entire community of Solesmes reached Appuldurcombe.


New abbey on site of Quarr Abbey House

The first monks arrived at Quarr Abbey House from Appuldurcombe on 25 June 1907 to prepare the grounds and the beginnings of a kitchen garden. They also put up fencing around the property, established a chicken farm and planted an orchard. One of the monks, Dom Paul Bellot, aged 31, was an architect. He designed and draughted plans for the new abbey, incorporating and extending Quarr Abbey House, some distance from the ruins of the medieval monastery.Horsford, Simon. "Isle of Wight: The sound of silence at Quarr Abbey", ''The Telegraph'', 7 February 2011
/ref> 300 workers from the Isle of Wight, accustomed to building only dwelling-houses, raised a building whose design and workmanship is admired by all who visit the Abbey. The building of the refectory and three sides of the cloister began in 1907 and was completed inside one year. The rest of the monks came from Appuldurcombe and, in April 1911, work began on the Abbey church which was quickly completed and consecrated on 12 October 1912. It was built with tall pointed towers of glowing Flemish brick, adding a touch of Byzantium to the skyline. The monastic buildings are considered some of the most important twentieth-century religious structures in the United Kingdom. In 1922, after World War I, the community of Solesmes returned to France. A small community of monks was left at Quarr which, from being a priory of Solesmes, became in 1937 an independent abbey, with English monks recruited to the community. With a shrinking community and ageing buildings the World Monuments Fund identified Quarr Abbey as one of the 100 most endangered historic sites in the world. In July 2012 the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded Quarr a £1.9 million matching grant. The project included repair and conservation of the abbey remains and existing abbey church, as well as a visitor information centre and education and training placements in construction for local college students. In the Bellot Abbey, repairs were carried out to remedy rain penetration. In 2021 a grant of £229,817 was made by Historic England for roof and window repairs. In July 2013, the Abbey hosted a Chant Forum, a five-day course on early polyphony and Gregorian Chant.


Abbots

*Dom
Marie-Gabriel Tissot Marie-Gabriel Tissot (1886 - 1983), in 1937 become the first Abbot of Quarr Abbey, England in modern times. Biography Tissot was born in France in 1886, and after studies in the seminary of Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris, Saint-Sulpice, in 1906 he e ...
, OSB, Abbot 1937 - 1964 *Dom Aelred Sillem, OSB, Abbot 1964 - 1992 *Dom
Leo Avery Leo Avery (5 January 1938 - 4 July 1996) was third Abbot of Quarr Abbey, on the Isle of Wight, from 1992 to 1996. Biography Leo was born 5 January 1938, in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, and raised in Maidstone, Kent, England. After studies in A ...
, OSB, Abbot 1992 - 1996 *Dom
Cuthbert Johnson Cuthbert Johnson (11 July 1946 – 16 January 2017) was a British Catholic priest, musician, liturgist and a Benedictine monk. He was the fourth Abbot of Quarr Abbey. Life Johnson was born in County Durham, England. After studying with the C ...
, OSB, Abbot Aug 1996 - March 2008 *Dom Finbar Kealy, OSB, Prior Administrator 2008 - 2013 *Dom Xavier Perrin, OSB, was appointed as Prior Administrator in May 2013, having previously held the position of Prior at Kergonan Abbey, Brittany. He was elected Abbot by the community in the presence of the Abbot of Solesmes on 11 May 2016.


Day To Day Life At Quarr

Benedictine monks strive to dedicate their lives to the glory of God, and to the Rule Of
Saint Benedict Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Christianity in Italy, Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Ortho ...
, which sees their time structured between prayer, work and community life. 7 public services take place each day, beginning with
Vigils In Christian liturgy, a vigil is, in origin, a religious service held during the night leading to a Sunday or other feastday. The Latin term ''vigilia'', from which the word is derived meant a watch night, not necessarily in a military context, a ...
at 5.30 in the morning.
Lauds Lauds is a canonical hour of the Divine office. In the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours it is one of the major hours, usually held after Matins, in the early morning hours. Name The name is derived from the three last psalms of the psalter (148, ...
then follows at 7am during the week and at 10 on a Sunday. Daily Mass is at 9 during the week and at 10 on a Sunday. Sext is at 1pm, with
Nones (liturgy) Nones (), also known as None ( la, Nona, "Ninth"), the Ninth Hour, or the Midafternoon Prayer, is a fixed time of prayer of the canonical hours, Divine Office of almost all the traditional Christian liturgies. It consists mainly of psalms and is ...
at 2.20, Vespers at 5pm and
Compline Compline ( ), also known as Complin, Night Prayer, or the Prayers at the End of the Day, is the final prayer service (or office) of the day in the Christian tradition of canonical hours, which are prayed at fixed prayer times. The English wo ...
at 8 o clock in the evening. Added to this each of the monks have jobs to do around the monastery and its grounds. Father Nicholas, for example, is the guestmaster, tending to those on retreat, but he is also the abbey's bookbinder and bee keeper. Pilgrims to Quarr, can stroll around the stunning gardens, teas shop, visitors centre, and book shop, or see the works of local artists at the monastery's gallery.


Retreats

According to The Rule Of
Saint Benedict Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Christianity in Italy, Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Ortho ...
, "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ", and as such, Quarr Abbey makes no distinction in who it allows to stay within the monastery's guest house facilities regardless of what denomination they may or may not be. Payment for a stay comes in the form of a donation, based on what the guest can or can't afford, and no one is ever turned away simply because they can't afford it. Father Nicholas, the guestmaster is constantly on hand to show visitors to their rooms and to sit and chat with them in that of the common room. Meals are provided for those on retreat, with breakfast being around 7.30am, lunch at 1.15pm and supper at 7pm. Whilst the guests are welcome to participate in all seven of the services that take place in a day, these are in no way compulsory. Such is the popularity of Quarr, many well known people have stayed there including the musician
Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...
, and people return time after time, from all four corners of the globe. 


In literature

Tony Hendra Anthony Christopher "Tony" Hendra (10 July 1941 – 4 March 2021) was an English satirist, actor and writer who worked mostly in the United States. Educated at St Albans School (where he was a classmate of Stephen Hawking) and at St John's Col ...
devotes much of his 2004 memoir, '' Father Joe: The Man Who Saved My Soul'', to his experiences at Quarr Abbey. In his 1929 memoir, ''
Good-Bye to All That ''Good-Bye to All That'' is an autobiography by Robert Graves which first appeared in 1929, when the author was 34 years old. "It was my bitter leave-taking of England," he wrote in a prologue to the revised second edition of 1957, "where I had ...
'',
Robert Graves Captain Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 7 December 1985) was a British poet, historical novelist and critic. His father was Alfred Perceval Graves, a celebrated Irish poet and figure in the Gaelic revival; they were both Celtic ...
describes visiting Quarr Abbey whilst recovering on the Isle of Wight during the Great War. The fresh grains, vegetables and fruits at the Abbey helped change Graves' previously held negative views of Catholicism.


Burials in the old abbey

*
Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon Baldwin de Redvers, 1st Earl of Devon (died 4 June 1155), feudal baron of Plympton in Devon, was the son of Richard de Redvers and his wife Adeline Peverel. He was one of the first to rebel against King Stephen, and was the only first rank magnat ...
and wife Adelize Ballon (d. circa 1146) * Cecily of York and husband Thomas Kymbe


See also


References


Bibliography

* S.F. Hockey, ''Quarr Abbey and Its Lands, 1132–1631'', Leicester University Press, 1970.


External links

* Quarr Abbey A Catholic Benedictine Monastery * * * * {{Authority control 1132 establishments in England 1536 disestablishments in England Benedictine monasteries in England Buildings and structures on the Isle of Wight Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Churches on the Isle of Wight Grade I listed buildings on the Isle of Wight Grade II listed buildings on the Isle of Wight Grade I listed monasteries Grade II listed monasteries Grade I listed Roman Catholic churches in England Monasteries in the Isle of Wight Paul Bellot buildings Religious organizations established in the 1130s Roman Catholic churches completed in 1912 Tourist attractions on the Isle of Wight Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom