Titchfield Abbey

Titchfield Abbey is a medieval abbey and later country house, located in the village of Titchfield near Fareham in Hampshire, England. The abbey was founded in 1222 for Premonstratensian canons, an austere order of priests. The abbey was a minor house of its order, and became neither wealthy nor influential during its three centuries of monastic life; the inhabitants were devoted to scholarship, as shown by their very impressive library. The abbey was closed in 1537 by Henry VIII of England during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the building was converted into a mansion by Thomas Wriothesley, a powerful courtier. Later in the sixteenth century the mansion was home to Henry Wriothesley, who was a patron of William Shakespeare. In 1781 the mansion was abandoned and partially demolished. The remains were purchased by the government in the early twentieth century and are now a Scheduled Ancient Monument under the care of English Heritage.

The builder of the abbey was Bishop Peter des Roches of Winchester, a powerful politician, churchman and government official who founded several religious houses, including Netley Abbey (1236), also in Hampshire, Halesowen Abbey (1214) in Worcestershire and La Clarté Dieu (1236) in his native France. In 1222 the first inhabitants of the new monastery, under the leadership of Abbot Richard, arrived from Halesowen Abbey. 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 the manor of Titchfield itself but also extensive lands dotted around Hampshire, and this property was expanded by major grants from local aristocrats and King Henry III (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 central core of the monastery was surrounded by a walled precinct containing gardens, fishponds (several of which still survive close to the abbey buildings), orchards, barns, guesthouses, stables, a farmyard and industrial buildings. Entrance to the abbey was strictly controlled by several gatehouses.

The internal affairs of the abbey seem to have been largely quiet. It was generally well run over its history and maintained a good reputation for the life led by its canons. As with other Premonstratensian houses, Titchfield Abbey was visited once a year by the father abbot from the parent house (in this case Halesowen Abbey); or instead, in certain years, by a commission of the General Chapter of Prémontré, the headquarters of the Premonstratensian Order. The scale of the disaster can be judged by the fact that on the Titchfield estates in the plague years of 1348 1349 close to 60% of the tenants died,

The abbey's location near Southampton and Portsmouth made it a convenient stopping place for journeys from England to continental Europe and it hence received many important visitors. Richard II and Queen Anne stayed at the abbey in 1393, and Henry V was a guest on his way to Southampton to invade France in 1415. On 23 April 1445, the abbey church was the venue for a royal wedding; the marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou was celebrated there by William Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury. 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 works 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.

Though a great deal has been destroyed, there are still major remains of the abbey and Place House to be seen. In fact, the pulling down of Place House has revealed more of the abbey than would otherwise be visible. The nave of the church still stands to full height and with it Wriothesley's gatehouse. To the east of the gatehouse ruins, the barest outline of the former church can be seen, including the choir and transepts. Fragments of the cloister buildings survive, including the entrance arches to the chapter house and library in the east range. In the abbey's grounds, the fishponds have been maintained and are used regularly for fishing. In addition, to the west of the abbey, and outside of the wall ringing the English Heritage site, there is a fragment of an outlying abbey building, the use of which is not recorded. Substantial stretches of the late mediaeval tile floors survive to this day. An inscription which used to lie before the entrance to the canons' refectory, was later covered and preserved beneath the steps leading up to Wriothesley's banqueting hall. Two other patches of tiling survive to the north of the gatehouse. Following the expulsion of the canons, these were concealed beneath the spiral staircases installed in Wriothesley's reconstruction, and therefore escaped being torn out with the rest of the tiles along the cloister walk. In winter, the tiles are covered over with sand by English Heritage staff in order to protect them from damage in the cold weather. The abbey has been the setting for concerts, including folk and blues festivals and open air theatre and is now under the care of English Heritage. It is open to the public.