Eynsham Abbey was a

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 ...

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 ...

in Eynsham, Oxfordshire, in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

between 1005 and 1538. King Æthelred allowed Æthelmær the Stout to found the abbey in 1005. There is some evidence that the abbey was built on the site of an earlier minster, probably founded in the 7th or 8th centuries. The site is a Scheduled Historic Monument.

History

The first

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The ...

of the abbey was the prolific writer Ælfric (c. 955–c. 1010) and the abbey was established in 1005. Eynsham Abbey was in the Diocese of Dorchester. In 1072 the recently appointed Norman Bishop of Dorchester, Remigius, moved his see from Dorchester, a few miles down the Thames from Eynsham, to

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, at the other end of the diocese. In 1091 Remigius annexed Eynsham Abbey, with its revenues, to his new abbey at

Stow Stow may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Stow, Lincolnshire or Stow-in-Lindsey, a village * Stow of Wedale or Stow, Scottish Borders, a village * Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, a small town * Stow, Shropshire or Stowe, a village * Stow ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

. This may have been the opening move in an attempt to introduce monks into the Lincoln cathedral chapter, but Remigius' successor, Robert Bloet, did not follow through with the scheme, if this was the intention, and the monks returned to Eynsham. A consequence of the return was that Eynsham Abbey was endowed by the bishop with additional lands in the south. After 1109, the old abbey was demolished, and in the 1200s, many new buildings were erected.Eynsham Abbey
/ref> The abbey flourished in the Middle Ages, although there were probably never more than 25 to 30 monks. A well-known abbot was

Adam of Eynsham Adam of Eynsham (died after 1233) was a medieval English chronicler and writer. He was a monk and Abbot of Eynsham Abbey. Adam was born around 1155 in Oxford to a middle-class family. His father, a doctor in Oxford, was named Edmund. Edmund's oth ...

, a writer, who wrote a hagiography of Saint

Hugh of Lincoln Hugh of Lincoln, O.Cart. ( – 16 November 1200), also known as Hugh of Avalon, was a French-born Benedictine and Carthusian monk, bishop of Lincoln in the Kingdom of England, and Catholic saint. His feast is observed by Catholics on 16 Nove ...

. Records from 1390 indicate that the abbey's income was just over £772; funds were obtained from rents and the sale of wool and livestock. By 1406 the income was just over £812. By the 16th century there seem to have been only a few monks left, and in 1538 the abbey was closed in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Anthony Kitchin was the last abbot. Some of the buildings were wrecked to hinder the return of the monks. Some of the monks found work with the Protestant church and the abbot, Anthony Kitchin (1471–1563), was named

Bishop of Llandaff The Bishop of Llandaff is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. Area of authority The diocese covers most of the County of Glamorgan. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul (the site of ...

in the Church of England, in 1545. The abbey estates were awarded to Sir George Darcy. As of 1657 the site included two ruined high towers and part of a wall. The

Earl of Derby Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...

later acquired the precinct; stones from the buildings were subsequently used to build houses in the village. Excavations by the Oxford Archaeological Unit were conducted from 1989 to 1992; according to one report, "many items of interest were found including the bones of a number of people".The original Abbey
/ref> Some of the artefacts found at the site are housed in the Oxfordshire County Council Museums Resource Centre, Standlake.

Burials

* Robert D'Oyly (Osney) * Anchetil de Greye and wife Matilda de Redvers *Fulk De Oyly

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * {{Authority control Benedictine monasteries in England Anglo-Saxon monastic houses Buildings and structures in Oxfordshire Scheduled monuments in Oxfordshire Monasteries in Oxfordshire Former churches in Oxfordshire Ruins in Oxfordshire Christianity in Oxford 1005 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 11th century 1538 disestablishments in England