Titchfield Abbey
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Titchfield Abbey is a former abbey and country house, located in the village of Titchfield near Fareham, Hampshire, England.
The builder of the abbey was Bishop Peter des Roches of Winchester, an important politician and churchman who founded several religious houses, including Netley Abbey, also in Hampshire, and La Clarté-Dieu in his native France. The inhabitants of the new foundation were not to be monks but canons regular belonging to the Premonstratensian order (also known as the 'white canons' from the colour of their robes and Norbertines from the name of their founder, St. Norbert). They lived communally like monks, following a very strict interpretation of the Rule of St. Augustine, but in addition to engaging in a life of study and prayer within their monasteries they also had a pastoral mission and served as parish priests ministering to the spiritual needs of the laity. The order was well known for the austerity of the lives led by its members, something that made it - as with the Cistercians - especially popular with wealthy benefactors in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.
The first canons, led by abbot Richard, arrived in 1222 from Halesowen Abbey in Worcestershire. Titchfield was to maintain a strong connection with its mother house at Halesowen throughout its existence as a monastery.
Bishop Peter held one of the richest bishoprics in the mediaeval church and so was in a position to be generous in the endowment of his new abbey. He not only gave Titchfield itself but also extensive lands dotted around Hampshire, and this property was expanded by major grants from local aristocrats and King Henry III himself (who also granted the monastery important legal privileges in 1231), with the result that Titchfield was placed on a firm financial footing from the beginning.
The abbey buildings were centred around the church, which was comparatively small. It was cruciform in plan with a narrow, aisless nave, a short eastern arm, six side chapels in the transepts and a tower with bells. It was in some ways a rather old fashioned design and deliberately austere, perhaps reflecting the strict doctrines of the order at the period of construction. Though it was restored once after nearly falling to ruin, unlike many of their fellows the canons of Titchfield never succumbed to the desire to create a grand church in the later middle ages and kept their original until the end.
Next to the church stood a cloister surrounded on three sides by the domestic buildings of the house, including the chapter house, dormitory, kitchen, refectory, library, food storage rooms and quarters for the abbot. Though not large, surviving fragments show that the abbey buildings were of very high quality with fine masonry and carving. As the middle ages progressed considerable investment was made to upgrade the domestic buildings to meet rising living standards, and it is probable that by the mid fourteenth century they were rather luxurious, as evidenced by the elaborate polychrome floor tiles (an expensive and high status product) still seen today all over the site.
The central core of the monastery would have been surrounded by a walled precinct containing gardens, fishponds, orchards, barns, guesthouses, stables, a farmyard and industrial buildings. Entrance would have been strictly controlled by several gatehouses.
The internal affairs of the abbey seem to have been largely quiet. It was well managed and solvent over its history and maintained a good reputation for the life led by its canons.
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[edit] Library
The Premonstratensians placed great emphasis on scholarship and the canons of Titchfield possessed a very impressive library, the catalogue for which survives. There were 224 volumes, each containing a number of different works bound together, as was common in the period, and some must have been very large to contain all the material recorded for them. The books were systematically organised by subject, shelf and location in the library room (probably the chamber between the chapter house and the church as this was the traditional location). There were books in Latin, English and French covering theology, church history, writings of the Fathers of the Church, medicine, law, philosophy, grammar, travel, legends, romances and records of the abbey. The canons also had another collection of more than 100 books used for services that they kept in the church.
[edit] Dissolution
Henry VIII dissolved the abbey in 1537. In 1535 the abbey's income was assessed in the Valor Ecclesiasticus, Henry VIII's great survey of church finances, at £280 gross, £249 net, so it avoided being destroyed in the first round of supressions in 1536. However, several important courtiers, especially Thomas Wriothesley desired to seize the abbey for themselves and put great pressure on the abbot, John Salisbury, Suffragan Bishop of Thetford to surrender on terms before he was made to by force. Abbot John bribed Wriothesley heavily to hold off, but when it was obvious to them that their abbey was doomed he and his canons took steps to secure their personal future by realising the assets for cash, including selling off the abbey's stock, treasures and church plate. Titchfield finally fell in December 1537. The abbot proved a tough negotiator in the surrender, securing 100 marks a year as a pension for himself and comfortable incomes for his eight canons and three novices. Despite this, Abbot John remained in government favour, being made Dean of Norwich Cathedral in 1539 and eventually Bishop of Sodor and Man. He died in 1573.
[edit] Post-Dissolution
Wriothesley won the battle to gain control of Titchfield and turned it into a mansion for himself, known as Place House. Unlike his similar project at Beaulieu Abbey, which he had also been granted by King Henry, Wriothesley chose to convert the main abbey buildings, including the church, into his house. It was an imaginative scheme: he constructed a spectacular castellated gatehouse with four octagonal turrets which was forced through the middle of the nave. The cloister became the central courtyard of the house (an impressive fountain was placed in the middle), the old refectory, with the addition of a grand porch, became the great hall, while the rest of the abbey was turned into fine apartments for the family. The church tower was initially kept as part of the house but it was soon demolished as it stopped the chimmneys from drawing properly.
[edit] Famous guests
The abbey's location near Southampton and Portsmouth made it a convenient stopping place for journeys to the continent. The marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou was celebrated there in 1445. This marriage was arranged to confirm a truce between France and England during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453). Margaret indirectly ruled the country through her weak husband and later became a leading player in the Wars of the Roses. Other royal visitors included Edward VI, Elizabeth I and Charles I, who was captured there by Parliamentarian forces towards the end of the English Civil War. Shakespeare was a close friend of Henry Wriothesley, the 3rd Earl, and certainly visited the abbey. It is believed that some of Shakespeare's sonnets were written for the Earl.
[edit] Later history
Wriothesley's heirs and succesors lived at Place House until the latter part of the eighteenth century, at which point the building started to fall into disrepair. A decision was made to abandon the mansion and deliberately demolish much of it to create a romantic ruin. When this happened local people took stone from the abbey for their homes; evidence can be seen in walls and foundations of older houses in Titchfield village. Much though is inside the buildings; in The Bugle Hotel in Titchfield, for example, one can see a big fireplace that was clearly salvaged from the ruins.
[edit] The abbey today
Though a great deal has been destroyed, there are still major remains of the abbey and Place House to be seen. The nave of the church still stands to full height and with it Wriothesley's gatehouse. Fragments of the cloister buildings survive, including the entrance arches to the chapter house and library in the east range. Large areas of the late mediaeval tile floors are preserved. The abbey now belongs to English Heritage and is open to the public.
[edit] Trivia
- It is claimed that some of Shakespeare's plays, including Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream were first performed at Titchfield.
- The abbey is home to concerts, including folk and blues festivals and open-air theatre.
[edit] Bibliography
- The Abbeys and Priories of Medieval England, Prof. Colin Platt, Secker & Warburg 1984
- Bare Ruined Choirs, Dom. David Knowles, Cambridge University Press 1959
- A History of the County of Hampshire: Volume II, The Victoria County History 1973
