St Augustine's Abbey or Chilworth Abbey, formerly Chilworth Friary, is a Roman Catholic

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') , foun ...

abbey in

Chilworth, Surrey Chilworth is a village in the Guildford borough of Surrey, England. It is located in the Tillingbourne valley, southeast of Guildford. Geography The village is in the Surrey Hills AONB, Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, AONB an ...

. The building, which is Grade II listed, was designed by

Frederick Walters Frederick Arthur Walters (1849–1931) was a Scottish architect working in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, notable for his Roman Catholic churches. Life Walters was born on 5 February 1849 at 6 South Terrace, Brompton, London, the son of the ar ...

and was built in 1892. It was formerly a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

friary and a

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

for the order.Ramsgate Benedictines move to Chilworth
from ''Independent Catholic News'' retrieved 25 February 2014 The abbey church is open to the public 365 days a year.

Friary

St Augustine's Abbey chapel plaque, Chilworth

Construction

Construction of the friary started in 1890 and it was designed by the architect Frederick Walters, who also designed the nearby St. John's Seminary in

Wonersh Wonersh is a village and civil parish in the Waverley district of Surrey, England and Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Wonersh contains three Conservation Areas and spans an area three to six miles SSE of Guildford. In the o ...

. It was financed by a £7,000 bequest from Mary Anne Alliott who was the aunt of the founder of the friary, Fr Arthur Wells. On 18 June 1892 the friary and church was dedicated and consecrated by the Bishop of Southwark. The friary was built to serve as a novitiate for the Franciscans in Britain.Chilworth News
from

Order of Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...

retrieved 25 February 2014

Developments

In the centre of the Cloister, there is a large yew tree which was planted from a cutting taken from the Ancient Yew at the Friary at Muckross Abbey in Killarney, Ireland which is reputed to date from the foundation of that Abbey in 1430AD. In 1915, an organ, built by

Lewis & Co Lewis and Company was a firm of organ builders founded by Thomas Christopher Lewis (1833–1915), one of the leading organ builders of late 19th Century Britain. Born in London in 1833, the son of Thomas Archdeacon Lewis (1780–1862), a secre ...

was installed. It was paid for by John Courage of Derryswood, Wonersh (owner of both Lewis & Co and

Courage Brewery Courage Brewery was an English brewery, founded by John Courage in 1787 in London, England. History Courage & Co Ltd was started by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse in Horsleydown, Bermondsey in 1787. He was a Scottish shipping agent of Fr ...

) and was done with permission from the architect. The same year,

Albert Ketèlbey Albert William Ketèlbey (; born Ketelbey; 9 August 1875 – 26 November 1959) was an English composer, conductor and pianist, best known for his short pieces of light orchestral music. He was born in Birmingham and moved to Lon ...

wrote his light classical music piece, ''

In a Monastery Garden ''In a Monastery Garden'' is a piece of light classical music by Albert Ketèlbey, who composed it in 1915 after a visit to a real monastic garden, now the Benedictine monastery of St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth in Surrey. It was especially s ...

'', having visited the friary.

Parish

In 1945, the parish of Holy Ghost Church was entrusted to the friary. It expanded and the friary also served a Mass centre in

Gomshall Gomshall is a village in the borough of Guildford in Surrey, England.OS Explorer map 145:Guildford and Farnham. Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton. It is on the A25, roughly halfway between Guildford and Dorking, and i ...

, Our Lady of the Angels.

Abbey

In 2011, it was announced that the friars would leave Chilworth. The friars were distributed amongst the other Franciscan houses in Britain and the parish church of the Holy Ghost was closed. That year,

St Augustine's Abbey St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

also closed and the Benedictine monks from the Order of St Benedict, of the

Subiaco Cassinese Congregation The Subiaco Cassinese Congregation is an international union of Benedictine houses (abbeys and priories) within the Benedictine Confederation. It developed from the Subiaco Congregation, which was formed in 1867 through the initiative of Dom Piet ...

, looked for a smaller property to move into. When Chilworth Friary became available, they agreed to move to the area and it became St Augustine's Abbey. The monastic community follows the Rule of St Benedict under the guidance of an Abbot, centred on the Divine Office and Mass prayed daily in the Abbey Church, often in a mix of Latin and English including Gregorian Chant. The community currently numbers eight monks and one postulant. There are a number of lay

oblate In Christianity (especially in the Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican and Methodist traditions), an oblate is a person who is specifically dedicated to God or to God's service. Oblates are individuals, either laypersons or clergy, normally livi ...

s. The monks run a guest house and offer a programme of retreats, monastic vocation visits, study days, meditation sessions and healing days. They also make and sell skin creams and furniture polish made from bees wax. St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth compiles 'The Book of Saints, A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary' by Dom Basil Watkins OSB. St Augustine's Abbey is not a parish church but the abbey church is open to the public to attend services every day of the year, along with other regular events in the church calendar.

Gallery

Exterior

St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth, view.jpg, South side of the abbey File:St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth, Church.jpg, East side File:Church of the Holy Ghost (Greyfriars Church), Sample Oak Lane, Blackheath Village (March 2014) (1).JPG, Abbey Church File:Greyfriars Monastery - geograph.org.uk - 624481.jpg, Southeast view of the abbey

Interior

File:Inside St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth.jpg, Interior File:St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth, interior (1).jpg, Organ File:St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth, interior (2).jpg,

Chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ove ...

File:Christ figure on the Abbey Church's Rood Screen at St Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth, UK.png, Christ figure in Abbey Church

References

External links

St Augustine's Abbey site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Augustine's Abbey, Chilworth Monasteries in Surrey Benedictine monasteries in England 1892 establishments in England Franciscan monasteries in England Grade II listed churches in Surrey Roman Catholic churches in Surrey Grade II listed Roman Catholic churches in England Roman Catholic churches completed in 1892 Frederick Walters buildings 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom