FORDE or FORD, Dorset

In 1136 Richard fitz Baldwin, lord of Okehampton and sheriff of Dorset, founded an abbey at Brightly in central Devon. He was a kinsman of the founder of WAVERLEY, Surrey and it was to this house that Richard turned to provide a colony of monks for his new foundation. However, the yeare after the first monks arrived Richard fitz Baldwin died. The abbey of the Blessed Virgin of Waverley was the very first Cistercian monastery in the British Isles. It was founded by William Giffard, bishop of Winchester, who brought a colony across the channel from the French abbey of L’Aumone (Loir-et-Cher), sometimes called ‘Le Petit-Citeaux’. Between 1133 and 1150 at least sixty-five monks and a large number of lay-brothers left Waverley to colonise five other abbeys: Garendon (1133), Forde (1136), Thame (1137), Bruern (1147), and Combe (1150). COMBE was founded in 1150 by Richard de Camville, who married the widow of Robert Marmion, founder of Polesworth Abbey. It was the fifth daughter house of Waverley, the oldest of the English Cistercian houses. By the end of the thirteenth century it had become the wealthiest house in Warwickshire. However, during the fourteenth century the house was burdened by some debt, as were a lot of the Cistercian abbeys at that time. Whilst, WAVERLEY was tucked away in the Surrey countryside and attracted no recruits of any repute, the abbey was nevertheless one of the three most influential Cistercian houses in England, alongside Rievaulx and Fountains.

The monks abandoned the site at FORDE four years later, in 1141, probably as a result of environmental difficulties and problems with the scale of Richard’s endowment. It is reported that the monks were on there way back to Waverley when they were met near the south-eastern border of Devon by the founder’s sister, Adelicia. Adelicia offered them substantial holdings at Thorncombe, together with temporary accommodation at a house called Westford. Permanent buildings were constructed near the crossing of the river Axe, which gave rise to the name ‘Forde’. This time the house survived, despite the death of Adelicia in 1142. Early endowments were rapidly expanded upon so that by the second half of the twelfth-century Forde abbey had become the most devout religious house of the south-west. Indeed, Forde abbey gave rise to some notable individuals. Baldwin, the third abbot (1168-81), was to become bishop of Worcester, and from there he was later made Archbishop of Canterbury. John, the fifth abbot (1191-1220), was a significant theologian and writer, and although some of his works (including his letters) have been lost, his Life of Wulfric, the recluse of Haselbury, and a number of his sermons still survive. Under the rule of these two men, daughter colonies were sent out to BINDON in 1171-72, and to DUNKESWELL in 1201.

DUNKESWELL abbey was founded in 1201 by the royal servant, William Brewer, who had already endowed many monasteries throughout his lifetime. The grants he made to Dunkeswell, however, were particularly lavish and were mainly located in east Devon. William’s son also granted the community an important property at Buckland Brewer and by 1290 the monastery had come to possess a very substantial estate. In the survey of 1535 the abbey’s total annual income was assessed at £294, and the monastery fell with most of the larger houses in 1539.

However, by the fourteenth-century the monastic buildings were said to have been dilapidated and the church almost in ruins. In the years immediately preceding the Dissolution Abbot Thomas Chard (1521-39) launched an extensive programme to restore the monastery. He built himself a great hall and had begun the reconstruction of the cloister when the community was dissolved. In the 1535 survey, the house was still a relatively wealthy one, the net income of the abbey valued at £374. The monastery was dissolved in 1539 and the site was sold into private ownership. The buildings were converted for domestic use and Forde was eventually bought in 1649 by Sir Edmund Prideaux, who was to become Oliver Cromwell’s solicitor-general.

FLAXLEY, Forest of Dean, Gloucs, was founded by Roger, son of Miles Fitzwalter, earl of Hereford, in 1151. The site, located in the forest of Dean, was chosen to mark the spot where his father had been killed in a hunting accident in 1143. The first monks arrived from BORDESLEY Abbey in Worcestershire, which was founded in 1138. Between 1151 and 1154 Roger's grants were confirmed by Henry, duke of Normandy and count of Anjou, and reconfirmed in 1158, following Henry's succession to the throne of England. Henry II also gave the monks the right take wood and other building material from the forest, which was a royal prerogative. In 1234 Flaxley abbey was used as a safe haven against the Crown when the rebels who had supported Richard Marshal against Henry III sought refuge here.

BORDESLEY abbey, Worcestershire, was founded by Waleran de Beaumont, count of Meulan (in Normandy) and earl of Worcester, in 1138. This foundation was made in conjunction with the foundation of an Augustinian abbey in Leicester by his twin brother, Robert earl of Leicester. These ‘twin’ foundations can be seen as a political statement made by two of the most powerful magnates in England. Waleran had been made earl of Worcester by King Stephen in 1138 and this project marked his arrival. On being made earl Waleran had received a block grant of all the royal assets in the county and Bordesley Abbey was situated in Feckenham forest, on land of this nature. The Empress Matilda and then her son, Henry II, claimed Bordesley as their own foundation. Waleran had been a favoured adherent of Stephen’s party, but after the battle of Lincoln (1141) Waleran defected to the Empress’s party in order to save his lands in Normandy, which were now under the control of the Empress’s husband, Geoffrey of Anjou. The Empress issued two charters as a consequence of Waleran’s submission to her and they were both directed to the abbey of Bordesley. The charters declare that the Empress was in fact the abbey’s founder. The abbey was dissolved in 1538 and demolition began almost immediately. In 1542, the site was granted to Lord Windsor, whose family, the earls of Plymouth, owned it through to the twentieth century. The chapel survived in use as a church until 1805 and the whole site is now a public park in Needle Lane, Waterside, in the Borough of Redditch.

BRUERN abbey, Oxford was founded in 1147 by Nicholas Basset, who was joint sheriff in eleven counties. The abbey was originally called ‘the church of St. Mary of the heath of Tretone’ and was colonised by monks from Waverley. In 1535 there were fifteen monks and the abbey had a net income of £136. The abbey was dissolved in October 1536 and its buildings were progressively destroyed. Today there are no visible remains and the site is occupied by an eighteenth-century private house, which takes its name from the abbey.