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Chertsey Abbey

Former Benedictine monastery in Surrey, England

Summary

Former Benedictine monastery in Surrey, England

Field	Value
name	Chertsey Abbey
image	Stained glass in the Burrell CollectionDSCF0487 14.JPG
caption	Medieval stained glass with the arms of the abbey, a sword and the Keys of St Peter
order	Benedictine
established	666
refounded: 964
disestablished	1537
founder	Saint Erkenwald
dedication	St Peter
people	King Frithuwald of Surrey
King Henry VI
location	Chertsey,
Surrey, England
coord
remains	Yes
public_access	Yes

refounded: 964 King Henry VI Surrey, England

[[Richard I]] and [[Saladin]] in the [[British Museum]] tiles

Chertsey Abbey, dedicated to St Peter, was a Benedictine monastery located at Chertsey in the English county of Surrey.

It was founded in 666 AD by Saint Erkenwald who was the first abbot, and from 675 AD the Bishop of London. At the same time he founded the abbey at Chertsey, Erkenwald founded Barking Abbey on the Thames east of London, where his sister Saint Ethelburga was the first abbess.

The Founder, [[St Erkenwald]], depicted in a statue at [[St Albans Cathedral

In the 9th century it was sacked by the Danes and refounded from Abingdon Abbey by King Edgar of England in 964. In the eleventh century the monks engineered the Abbey River as an offshoot of the River Thames to supply power to the abbey's watermill. In the Late Middle Ages, the Abbey became famous as the burial place of King Henry VI (whose body was later transferred to St George's Chapel, Windsor). The abbey was dissolved by the commissioners of King Henry VIII in 1537, but the community moved to Bisham Abbey in Berkshire.

Remnants

The site was given to Sir William Fitzwilliam and now only slight traces remain amongst later buildings, although the abbey is remembered in many local names (for example: Abbey River, Monk's Walk, Abbey Fields). Some very fine medieval tiles from the abbey, some depicting the legend of Tristan and Iseult, may be seen in the British Museum. From the ruins of the abbey, individual letter tiles dating to the second half of the 13th century were recovered. They were assembled to form religious inscription texts on the floor and can be considered a forerunner of movable type printing.

One of the Abbey's bells, cast by a Wokingham foundry circa 1380 and weighing just over half a ton, is still in use as the 5th of the ring of eight at St Peter's church, Chertsey, and is one of the oldest bells in current use in Surrey.

A medieval stained glass panel with the abbey's coat of arms is displayed in the Burrell Collection near Glasgow, and the two crossed keys (of Saint Peter) from the arms are also in the official Banner of Arms of Surrey County Council. Some illuminated manuscripts from the abbey survive in various collections. The Chertsey Breviary, c. 1300, is in the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Bodley ).

Chertsey Abbey is mentioned in William Shakespeare's Richard III, Act I, Scene 2, Line 27, where Lady Anne says, "Come now towards Chertsey with your holy load", referring to the body of Henry VI.

The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers holds the advowson of St Peter's, Chertsey, nowadays.

Later history of the site

After Sir William Fitzwilliam, Chertsey Abbey was owned by Dr John Hammond (c. 1555–1617), physician to the royal household under James I, who purchased the site of Chertsey Abbey in Surrey in 1602. Dr Hammond's son, Lt.Col. Thomas Hammond of Cromwell's New Model Army, was named as a Commissioner at the High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I, and despite attending no fewer than fourteen of its sittings, he did not sign the death warrant.

In the mid-19th century the site of the abbey was excavated under the supervision of the architect and archaeologist Samuel Angell, who published an account of the investigations, accompanied by a ground plan of the abbey church, in 1862.

Known Abbots of Chertsey

Erkenwald, founder and first Abbot of Chertsey Abbey
Abbot Beocca, monastery sacked 875 by Vikings
Ordbert of Chertsey, 964
Wulfwold, Abbot of Chertsey, died 1084
John de Rutherwyk, 1307–46
John Corderoy, 1537

Burials

John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners
Abbot Beocca
Sir Richard Berners, Knight of West Horsley

Gallery

Bibliography

p93–97.

References

{{harvnb. Brekle. 1997
{{harvnb. Lehmann-Haupt. 1940
[https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=14160&partId=1 Richard and Saladin; Combat Series; Chertsey tiles], British Museum page
{{harvnb. Lehmann-Haupt. 1940
{{harvnb. Brekle. 1997
(1862). "Proceedings at Meetings of the Archaeological Institute". The Archaeological Journal.
[http://www.chobham.info/chertsey.htm Chertsey Abbey] {{Webarchive. link. (2016-03-03 history.)

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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