Exmoor - Cleeve Abbey & Crowcombe Church
Cleeve Abbey in Somerset housed a community of Cistercian monks for almost 350 years. At its peak it was home to 28 monks. Between 1186 and 1191 William de Roumare, Earl of Lincoln, gave all his lands at Cleeve for the foundation of a Cistercian abbey.
The first abbot and his monks arrived in 1198 from Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire, which had itself been founded by William’s grandfather. Cleeve was originally called ‘Vallis Florida’ (valley of flowers) and it soon attracted further gifts, mainly of land, from other local aristocrats.
When William founded the abbey, it was partly out of religious belief and partly out of self-interest. Founding an abbey was expensive, but medieval people believed that many prayers were needed to avoid a long stay in purgatory, or worse still descent into hell. It was thought that the best people to pray were the men and women – monks and nuns – who led a perfect Christian life dedicated to God.
After the abbey’s suppression in 1536 the church was destroyed, but the cloister survived virtually intact. Considering the size of this site, and the lavish building that it seems to have been, it seems criminal to me, centuries later, that this housed just 28 monks!
Although lots of it are now just traces, you can still get a feeling of its huge size.
So, here are some of my images of the day starting with the Gatehouse which is still largely intact.
The 13th century Gatehouse, remodeled by Abbot Dovell in the early 16th century. He was the last Abbot, I believe.
The angel roof of the 15th century refectory
The painted chamber at Cleeve (which was probably the office of the abbot, where his clerks worked) derives its name from the large, late 15th-century wall painting that covers one wall. It was rather unfortunate, albeit understandable, that we had to look at the painting from a side window, but the image gives some idea of the wall.
Unparalleled elsewhere in Britain, the painting shows a richly dressed, bearded old man praying on a bridge. He is flanked on one side by a lion and St Catherine of Alexandria (holding a wheel, the symbol of her martyrdom) and on the other side by a dragon and St Margaret of Antioch (who is impaling a second dragon with her staff). Fishes and large eels swim in the water below the bridge, while flying angels are represented in black and red outline, holding instruments of Christ’s Passion – the crown of thorns and the scourge.
The subject of the painting has recently been identified as the legend of a man crossing a bridge from the Gesta Romanorum (‘Deeds of the Romans’), a popular medieval collection of religious tales. A bit difficult to make it out from our viewpoint however!
A couple of images of the outside of the Abbey, the bottom one showing the outline of what was the church.
The village of Crowcombe nestles into the western slopes of the Quantock Hills south-east of Williton. In the centre of the village, beside the stately home of Crowcombe Court, stands the medieval Church of the Holy Ghost. The dedication to the Holy Ghost is thought to be unique in Britain, which is the reason we visited after leaving Cleeve Abbey.
The first church in Crowcombe was erected in the Saxon period, but the oldest part of the present red sandstone building is the west tower, which was built in the 14th century. It holds a ring of six bells, the oldest cast in 1440.
Separating the nave from the chancel is a wooden screen built in 1728. A similar screen separates the south aisle from the chancel. It too was built in 1728 as was the richly carved pulpit. What is unusual is the late date of the screens; most church screens were destroyed during the Reformation. One theory for the late date is that the 1728 screens were simply replacements for medieval screens that had been damaged when the steeple fell in 1725.
Behind the high altar is a beautifully carved Victorian reredos, installed in 1876 as a memorial to the rector's wife.
At the east end of the aisle is a 15th century Perpendicular font, carved with a series of seated figures that somehow escaped destruction at the hands of Cromwell's soldiers during the Civil War. Among the carved figures are a nun, a bishop, a knight, St Anne, and the Virgin Mary
There are outstanding carved 16th-century bench ends, probably carved in 1534 (the date appears on one of the benches). The carvings cover a wide range of subjects, from ornate Gothic tracery to mermaids, fruit, foliage, heraldic symbols, and three traditional Green Man symbols.
One interesting bench end depicts two naked men of Crowcombe doing battle with the legendary two-headed dragon of Shervage Woods, (above) known as the Gurt Worm. According to legend the dragon was finally defeated and cut into two halves, the halves forming the Quantock Hills.
The Crowcombe bench ends are superb and are easily among the best in Somerset.
The west tower was originally topped by an 80-foot-high spire. In 1725 the church steeple was struck by lightning and came crashing down, miraculously missing a crowd of people gathering in the porch for worship. The steeple was never repaired, and you can see the top in the churchyard, standing upright like a peculiar churchyard cross. Some of the stone from the fallen steeple was used in the church restoration.
The south porch was built with its fan-vaulted roof
I guess this was the Priest`s Door and I just loved the hinges.
Across the road from the churchyard stands the medieval Church House, built around 1515 to hold church ales, with the ground floor used to brew ale and bake bread and the upper floor used for village celebrations, feasting, and dancing. When church ales became unpopular during the Puritan era the Church House was converted to offer accommodation for 6 poor people, and a charity school occupied the first floor. It is still used for receptions, exhibitions, craft fairs, and for private hire.
I guess that nowadays we just call them village halls, but these were built at a time when the Church controlled most of people`s lives, from cradle to grave.
Comments