Hailes Abbey, Stanway, Gloucestershire

Photograph taken 20 October 2006 © Helmut Schulenburg. Source Historic England Archive ref: 134897

The Cistercian abbey of Hailes was founded in 1246 by Richard, Earl of Cornwall. He founded it in thanksgiving for surviving a shipwreck. The abbey church was built by 1277. The abbey had extensive and elaborate buildings, financed by pilgrims visiting its renowned relic, 'the Holy Blood of Hailes' - allegedly a phial of Christ's own blood. Following its dissolution in 1539 by Henry VIII, the abbey was sold to a dealer in monastic properties, soon after which the church was demolished. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2010). More Info

Location

Gloucestershire Hailes

Period

Medieval (Middle Ages) (1066 - 1484)

Themes

A nunnery was first documented here in 603. A monastery was founded during the abbacy of Aldhelm (c675-705). It became Benedictine in the reign of Edgar (959–975) and remained so until dissolved in 1539. The final Abbey Church was built circa 1160-70 and had 13th/14th and 15th century additions. The 431 feet (131 m) tall spire, collapsed in a storm around 1500. The west tower fell around 1550. As a result of these two collapses, less than half of the original building stands today. The abbey was closed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by Henry VIII. It was sold, with all its lands, to William Stumpe, a rich merchant. He gave the abbey church to the town for continuing use as a parish church, and filled the abbey buildings with twenty looms for his cloth-weaving enterprise.
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Hailes Abbey, Stanway, Gloucestershire

Location

Period

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