Моттисфонт аббаттығы: тарих, өнер және бақтар ансамблі

Mottisfont Abbey is a historical priory and country estate in Hampshire, England. Sheltered in the valley of the River Test, the property is now operated by the National Trust. 393,250 people visited the site in 2019. The site includes the historic house museum which features regularly changing art exhibitions, gardens, including a walled rose garden which is home to the National Plant Collection of ancestral rose species and 19th century rose cultivars, and a riverside walk. It is a Grade I listed building.

Fertile land and a plentiful water supply attracted the first settlers. The site's name comes from a spring ("font") that is still producing water in the grounds. It was the font around which the local community held its moots or meetings. An Augustinian priory was founded here in 1201 by William Briwere, a businessman, administrator and courtier to four Plantagenet kings who chose to make a public demonstration of his wealth and piety. The canons welcomed pilgrims en route to Winchester, who came to worship Mottisfont's relic, said to be the finger of St John the Baptist. Struck by the Black Death, the initially prosperous priory suffered from the mid 14th century onwards. Its landholdings included the church at Berwick St James, Wiltshire.

During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the priory was dissolved and in 1536 the king gave Mottisfont to a favoured statesman, Sir William Sandys (died 1540), Under Sir John Barker Mill, in the early 19th century, the estate became a centre for hunting, shooting and fishing, and a new stable block was built.

The arrival of Maud and Gilbert Russell in 1934 made Mottisfont the centre of a fashionable artistic and political circle. Maud was a wealthy patron of the arts, and she created a substantial country house where she entertained artists and writers including Ben Nicholson and Ian Fleming. She commissioned some of her artist and designer friends to embellish Mottisfont, always with an eye on its history, which fascinated her. Rex Whistler created the illusion of Gothic architecture in her salon (now known as the Whistler Room), a piece of trompe l'œil painting that recalls the medieval architecture of the priory. Boris Anrep contributed mosaics both inside and outside the house, including one of an angel featuring Maud's face – the couple had a long love affair. During World War II, Mottisfont was commandeered as a hospital with 80 beds. One of the artists who had visited regularly was Derek Hill, a society portrait painter who had a private passion for landscape painting, and who collected work by his contemporaries. He donated a substantial collection of early 20th century art to the National Trust to be shown at Mottisfont, in memory of his long friendship with Maud Russell. Today, these works are joined by a changing programme of temporary exhibitions of 20th century and contemporary art.

Mottisfont Abbey has extensive grounds. There are areas of wooded shade, a walk along the River Test, enough lawn for picnics, and games are allowed on the lawns, too. There are scented rose gardens, particularly on early summer evenings, and the largest specimen of a London plane tree in Britain. In the summer months there are often theatre productions outside, and at different times of the year there are specific trails, mainly but not exclusively aimed at children, for example at Easter, Halloween, Christmas etc. Refreshments are sold at several points and there is a modern National Trust shop, ice cream parlour and exhibition space. A new Visitor Centre was completed early in 2016. An environmentally friendly building, it is heated in winter months by a biomass boiler burning wood chips from the estate. From The Test Way, which passes through Mottisfont and around the Abbey grounds, the main house is seen from the rear as you pass through fields along the northern boundary.