An aerial view of Stanbrook Abbey when it was still a Benedictine contemplative house©
Introduction: Stanbrook Abbey-Callow End – Worcestershire
Written by John Richard Hodges
Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire is an abbey originally built as a contemplative house for Benedictine nuns.
The original monastic order who came to Stanbrook, was founded in 1625 in Cambrai, Flanders, which was at this time part of the Spanish Netherlands, under the auspices of the English Benedictine Congregation. The English Benedictine Congregation has now relocated to Wass in the North York Moors National Park.
According to ‘Historic England’ the buildings at Stanbrook were dated as follows: –
‘Stanbrook Hall (the Presbytery and today under ‘Handpicked Hotels’ the ‘Bride’s Manor) C18/early 19 century; Abbey buildings of 1838 by Charles Day; New Church and cloisters of 1869-71 by E. W. Pugin; Holy Thorn Chapel of 1885-86 by P. P. Pugin; Abbey buildings by Peter Paul and Cuthbert Welby Pugin and George Coppinger Ashlin of 1878-80, 1895-98 and 1898-1900: Materials used: Whitewashed brick with slate roofs, red brick with ashlar dressings and tiled roof. Plan (see version at the start of the book): Single storey, two and three storey ranges with attics and basements set around two open, cloistered quadrangles with the Church and the Via Crucis cloister dividing them.’
(George Coppinger Ashlin – 1837-1921 – was an Irish architect particularly noted for his work on churches and cathedrals. He had an early association with E. W. Pugin.)
A view of the intended complete monastery as published in ‘The Architect’ in December 1881. This reproduces the Hemptinne plan in the top left-hand corner. Most of what is shown here was eventually built with the exception of the school wing on the right and the top of the bell tower over the main entrance porch. Also, this drawing shows the refectory in a wing projecting at right angles from the north wing, in the location where the kitchens were built: – courtesy of the Stanbrook Abbey Archives and Sister Philippa Edwards & Sister Margaret Truran©
‘Stanbrook Abbey is of national significance as part of the architectural history of the Roman Catholic Revival, and the development of institutional buildings in the 19th century. The abbey church was designed by E. W. Pugin in the late 1860s. He followed the precepts of his influential father A. W. N. Pugin, and the monastic buildings of 1877-80 and the 1890s broadly follow E. W. Pugin’s initial proposals, although these were designed and executed by P. P. and C. W. Pugin.’ – (Thanks to Michael Hill for permission to use his Plan).
Edward Welby Pugin the English architect and eldest son of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and Louise Barton©
Whilst Stanbrook Hall is of local significance, its adaption and extension to form the new monastery in the 1830s by Charles Day is of national interest, especially in terms of the architectural style that was adopted. The chapel is of that date and is particularly significant in its neo-classical architectural style and the role of Baroque design influences on its interior.
The Abbey Church of Our Lady of Compassion, Stanbrook Abbey, showing the a) original High Altar and & reredos, b) the original interior & c) again a different style, later removed.©
The present chapel known as ‘The Great Hall’ in all its magnificence at Stanbrook Abbey©
Oulton in Staffordshire©
Stanbrook Abbey in Worcestershire©
The unspoilt Church of St Mary’s, Oulton with the original altar and wall paintings and below the changed church at Stanbrook Abbey©
Sadly, the same could not be said about the interior of Stanbrook where the original High Altar and reredos no longer survive, having first suffered mutilation in the late 1930s (long before the Second Vatican Council), and then completely removed – together with the beautiful J. Hardman Powell metal screen in 1971, when the Minton floor tiles in the chancel – designed by E. W. Pugin & J. H. Powell were replaced with cheap sanitary tiles.©
Examples of the ‘Minton’ tiles at Stanbrook Abbey: – JRH©
In other respects, the furnishings at Stanbrook Abbey Church are remarkably well preserved, the Minton floor tiles in the nuns’ choir, the Kauri pine choir stalls and the organ case meriting particular mention.
The Kauri pine choir stalls in the Church: – JRH©
The outside had also suffered, even before it was begun. E. W. Pugin’s original church who replaced by a somewhat inferior one and even this was altered at the last minute at the behest of the chaplain Dom Laurence Shepherd OSB who ‘at the last moment’ insisted on a clock tower with a dominating stair turret (of which E. W. Pugin strongly disapproved) in place of the intended west end bellcote. The stair turret is actually fairly close in design as to the original tower of the Granville Hotel in Ramsgate.
The original Pugin design and later and present day design of the exterior of the church©
The original tower at the Granville Hotel in Ramsgate©
Stanbrook is of Particular Ecclesiastical Interest
The first monastery of Benedictine nuns in South America was Santa Maria in Sao Paulo. There are also fifteen houses in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile, that have all sprung from this foundation.
The Monastery of St Benedict, Sao Paulo, Brazil©
There are regular visitors from South America in search of their roots, wanting to see the place where the Benedictine foundresses were trained between 1907 and 1911, the west window in the church commemorating the foundation, and the grave of one of the foundresses in the cemetery.
The first monastery of Benedictine nuns in Australia was founded by two English nuns, one from Stanbrook. Australian nuns often visit Stanbrook in the summer for this reason.
The Abbey is also visited, because Stanbrook was at the forefront of the 19th century movement to restore Gregorian Chant in monasteries, and of introduction into Catholic parishes during the first half of the 20th century. In the wake of Vatican Council II it pioneered the composition of texts and musical settings for a plainsong liturgy in the vernacular.
