|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
Wymondham Priory - it was raised to the status of an Abbey a mere ninety
years before its suppression - was founded in 1107 as a community of Benedictine
monks. The founder was William D'Albini, Chief Butler to King Henry I whose
widow, Alice of Louvrain, was later to marry William's son. William was the
nephew of Richard D'Albini, Abbot of St Alban's, and the new community was made
a Priory, or dependency, of the great Abbey of St Alban's, and was dedicated in
honour of St Mary the Virgin and St Alban the Martyr. It was only later that the
co-patron was changed to St Thomas of Canterbury.
The building was on an ambitious scale. Stone was shipped across the English
Channel from Caen, in Normandy, and the original Nave - a scaled-down version of
the Nave of Norwich Cathedral - was twelve bays long. The Priory Church was
cruciform, with a central Tower and two low Towers at the western end; it had
Aisles and Transepts, and the monastic Quire was flanked by chapels. The
monastic buildings - of which very little remains above ground, with the
exception of the east wall of the Chapter House - lay on the south side of the
church. The buildings seem to have been substantially completed by 1130, when
Nigel was appointed the first Prior.
An unusual feature of the foundation, and one which was almost bound to lead to
dispute, was D'Albini's intention that the church should be used by the
Benedictine community and also by the townspeople as their Parish Church. This
was clearly asserted, but no directions were given as to who should have
jurisdiction in which parts of the church. It was hardly surprising that in time
the Priory should wish to assert its authority over the whole building, and that
the townspeople should resist. Matters came to a head in 1249 when the case was
referred to the Pope, Innocent IV. He ruled that the parishioners should have
use, and control, of the Nave, north Aisle, and north-west Tower (the parts of
the church lying away from the monastic buildings) and that the Priory should
have the Quire and eastern Chapels, the Transepts, the south Aisle and the
south-west Tower.
It seems that by the middle of the fourteenth century the Norman Central Tower
was showing signs of weakness; it was demolished, and by 1376 the present
Central Tower was under construction. It was finished in 1409. Possibly because
of the weakness of the original foundations this new Central Tower was built to
the west of the original, and occupies most of what had been the three
easternmost bays of the Norman Nave. But when the tower was built, its west
wall, instead of being pierced by a lofty arch was made completely solid, apart
from two small doorways flanking the Parish Altar, thereby making a rigid
division between the monastic and parochial sections of the church. Further,
whilst the central Tower was under construction, the monks had moved their bells
to the north-west Tower (ceded to the Parish in 1249) and then, following the
return of the bells to the new Tower, the monks walled up the entrance to the
other. In retaliation the townspeople unblocked the entrance, hanging three
bells of their own in the north-west Tower. They filled in the two doors in the
new wall behind their main Altar, thereby excluding the monks from the Nave and
finally they broke into the Prior's lodging and took possession of it,
threatening his life and preventing him from saying Mass for Epiphany.
These events caused the King, Henry IV, to request the Archbishop of Canterbury
to enquire into the dispute, and coming to Wymondham in 1411 he reaffirmed the
division of the building which Innocent IV had decreed in 1249. He gave the
towns people leave to hang bells in the north-west Tower, but ordered them not
to ring them at such time as would cause annoyance to the Priory. Soon after
this, 3000 inhabitants petitioned the King for permission to build a new and
higher Tower, so that the bells could be heard more clearly. They wished to
build this new Tower immediately to the west of the Nave, where a Galilee porch
stood, but due to a further dispute with the Priory over removal of the Porch,
nothing was done for the time being.
Then towards the middle of the fifteenth century Sir John Clifton, of Buckenham
Castle, acquired a large part of the Manor of Wymondham, and became prominent in
local affairs. He took up the West Tower project with enthusiasm, interesting
wealthy patrons in it, and in 1445 obtained the agreement of the Priory. The
work finally began, and the two low Norman Towers were dismantled. Other works
followed in this second great building phase; the new clerestory and hammer-beam
roof were added to the Nave; the north Aisle was re-roofed and the two-storey
north Porch was added.
Meanwhile in 1448 the monastic house had become an Abbey, independent of St
Alban's. Sir Andrew Agard, a direct descendant of the Founder, had petitioned
the King for this to take place. The Prior, Stephen London, formerly a monk of
St Alban's, was duly elected as first Abbot. He was the first of ten Abbots of
Wymondham, and it was during the Abbacy of the tenth, Elisha Ferrers, that the
Abbey, along with all the other religious houses in England, was closed down by
order of King Henry VIII. Somewhat unusually, the King retained ownership for
ten years after the suppression using one John Flowerdew as his Agent. Under him
much was destroyed, including parts of the church which the townspeople had
raised money to purchase from the Crown and retain. Flowerdew's high-handedness
and self-interest contributed to the Kett Rebellion of 1549, a local uprising
against the religious and social changes which were being imposed upon the
country. It was led by Robert Kett, a wealthy tradesman of Wymondham, who was
hanged at Norwich Castle. His brother William was hanged from the west Tower of
the Abbey.
Acknowledgements : Text by John E Barnes 1990 with revisions by Dr Paul
Cattermole 1995.
 |
The Benedictine Abbey of The Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Thomas of Canterbury at Wymondham viewed from the North East as it might have appeared shortly before its suppression by Henry VIII in 1538. |
Plan view of the Abbey
Key to the plan:
1. High Altar of Monks' Church
2. Presbytery
3. Choir
4. Lady Chapel
5. St Andrew's Chapel
6. St Margaret's Chapel
7. Almonry
8. Monastic Tower
9. Parochial Nave
10. Parochial High Altar
11. Parochial Lady Chapel
12. South Aisle with 2nd Monastic Dormitory over.
13. Great West Tower
14. Passage
15. Chapter House
16. Undercroft - Monks' Dormitory over
17. Infirmary Block
18. Rere Dorter
19. Refectory
20. Kitchens
21. Cellarer's Range, Abbot's Dwelling and Guest House
22. Cloister Walk
23. Cloister Garth
24. Monastic Cemetery
25. Farmery
26. Fish Ponds and site of earlier Church beyond
Acknowledgements: Details compiled by The Revd. J.P.S.Denny, ARIBA and
published by The Friends of Wymondham Abbey in 1992.
An A2 size poster with the above view, plan and key is available from the
Abbey Shop.