Cleeve Abbey, one of the best preserved medieval abbeys in England with an excellent display of medieval tiles.
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Your first view of Cleeve Abbey is the beautiful gatehouse above. Having been built in the late13th century, it was modified twice, illustrating that even the Cistercian monks, who originally stuck to their strict interpretation of the Benedictine Rule of simplicity, changed their practices.
Cleeve was open for business in June 1198 and was founded by William de Roumare. Between1186 and 1191 he gave all of the land that he owned in the Cleeve area of Somerset to the Abbot of Revesby Abbey in Lincolnshire to create and populate a new “daughter abbey”. It was firstly named “Vallis Florida” (Flowering Valley) at Cleeve. Roumare’s grandfather had founded Revesby Abbey, the daughter abbey of the great Rievaulx Abbey.(See below) and following in his footsteps, Roumare would now found the granddaughter of Rievaulx.
The map below illustrates the links between the “Grandmother Abbey”, Rievaulx and its daughter and grandaughter houses, from Cleeve in the south-west to Kinloss and Deer abbeys in the north of Britain.
The background to William de Roumare’s medieval beliefs and why he made such an expensive donation?
In the medieval period everyone was a Catholic and believed in the concept of Heaven and Hell and a judgement place known as Purgatory. When a person died, their souls went to purgatory to be judged before going on to Heaven or Hell for eternity. If you look at my posts on “Doom Paintings” you can see what this meant in pictorial form. From a young age everyone would be told about “Judgement day” and the result of being a terrible sinner.
One such doom painting can be seen below, that of Trinity Church in Coventry. Jesus is in the middle making judgements and Hell is on the right. Look closely and you can see people being dragged down to Hell, which is enlarged in the bottom photo.
Below is a photo of judgement scales from Wenhaston Doom Painting. If the scales tip in favour of the Devil, the dead person has committed so many sins that they cannot be forgiven and thus they must spend eternity in Hell.
Below is the church of Wenhaston’s view of Hell.
To improve a person’s chance of getting out of Purgatory and moving on to heaven, prayers could be said. Purgatory would not be very nice to linger because suffering took place for people’s sins but if there weren’t too many and prayers were said then, eventually, heaven would be the final destination.
How does a monastery or abbey fit into this? A dead person’s relatives could pray for his/her soul but they wouldn’t be able to say very many prayers because they would have to get on with their everyday lives. On the other hand, if a community of monks prayed, it would result in numerous prayers being said up to 8 times a day. This would be built into their routine and so would never be missed. By founding an abbey, William de Roumare had a greater chance of getting to Heaven than people who only had their relatives few prayers.
Below is the Chaldon Doom Painting. The bottom half shows existence in Hell. On the left souls are boiled or bitten by a large dog and any escapees are pulled off the ladder going to Heaven. On the right side naked souls are forced to walk across a spiked bridge over and over again. Underneath the bridge, is a persons soul being held over a fire and having their reproductive organs burnt and this would carry on for eternity. You can now see why William de Roumare left his valuable land in Cleeve to create an abbey.
“For my own soul and the soul of Philippa my wife and for the souls of our ancestors and of our heirs.”
Did everyone believe this? Probably not but not believing and not having prayers said was an incredible risk to take, in people’s minds
Getting back to Cleeve Abbey.
Below is the room in the gatehouse to give alms (food and drink) to the poor. This was a duty of all monks and nuns. In 1535, a year before Henry VIII dissolved (closed down) Cleeve Abbey it gave out £17, 9 shillings and 7 pence to the poor. It also gave out £3, 6 shillings and 7 pence to a leper hospital every year. From this it can be seen that Cleeve Abbey played an important role in the community as well as helping people gain everlasting peace in Heaven.
Below, the impressive roof of the gatehouse although it is not the original medieval roof.
Below. The virgin Mary holding baby Jesus can be seen above the entrance on the way in.
Below is an inscription below Mary and Jesus. It reads’
“Gate be open, shut to no honest person.”
Below, the other end of the gatehouse has on its wall the crucifixion and in the next image, a plaque with the last abbot’s name,”Dovell”.
On leaving the ticket office there are some fascinating information boards as well as display of tiles. Above are two tiles showing Richard The Lionheart (Richard 1) and his adversary Saladin, in the Third Crusade. For spending much of his life fighting for the christians to gain back access to the holy places in Palestine such as Jerusalem, Richard was considered a hero. Richard spent so much time “on crusade” and so little time in England neglecting all of its problems, that some historians do not see him as such a great king.
Below, two other tiles on display
Below, when you come out of the information area you will see this range opposite you.
SA is the sacristy where all of the important abbey ceremonial items are stored. Items such as the chalice which is used in the service known as Mass to drink wine representing the blood of Jesus. Also in the mass, bread, representing the body of Jesus, is carried out on a decorated metal plate. Candles and other religious items are also stored in this safe area.
Below is an outside round window to the Sacristy. This used to have tracery, ornamental/decorative stone lines across it.
Below, looking through the round window you can see more medieval tiles.
Below, a section of a wall painting in the sacristy.
Below, L is the Library, the place where religious books are kept well as books on animal husbandry and crops both useful subjects that will help them survive in the medieval world.
Below, C is the Chapter House where group discussions took place to sort out and allocate jobs for the day. Punishments were also handed out here for monks who have not come up to the high standards set by the Cistercian’s interpretation of the Benedictine Rule.
Below, the two red arrows point out the red remains of the decorative wall paintings along the ribs. Today, non Catholic churches are very plain but in medieval times, walls and ceilings were covered with religious paintings such as the ones shown earlier.
DS (see below) are the Dormitory stairs to the sleeping quarters above, D.
Below, D, the impressive Dormitory. In the left hand corner are the “night stairs” that the monks would use to go directly into the church for the 2.am service known as Matins and a 6.am mass.
G is the parlour. Several cupboards were in here and monks could have brief chats in here.
Below, shows S is oddly named the “Slype”. It is a corridor to the outside of the building.
Below, on your left on leaving the information area, you will see the remains of part of the cloister.
Below, the view from inside the cloister where such things as beautiful books were created and studied. It had a roof and so the monks could work in silence, here, in all weathers.
Below, one of the interior walls has been exposed to show the original wattle and daub construction. Wattle refers to the wood and daub is the plaster filling which is made of a mixture of mud, animal dung, straw and animal hair. It sounds smelly and revolting but you can see it has lasted a long time and when dry, does not have an odour, at least not to medieval citizens.
Below, moving in a clockwise direction, the next part of the building is the west cloister and a feature here to look out for is the “Collation Seat”. The abbot would sit hear before the evening service and listen to readings from the “Collations'“ a book by the 5th century saint, John Cassian.
Below, standing with the Collation seat behind you, a great view of the much altered south wing can be observed.
Above, WR is the warming room.
CR are the Corrodian’s rooms.
L is theLaver where the monks washed before going to eat in the refectory R, above the other rooms in this block.
RS are the refectory stairs.
Below, inside the warming room. Its name comes from the obvious use that this is where the monks come to get warm in the colder months of the year. The fire would be alight from November 1st, “All Saints’ Day”, until “Good Friday”, the date of which varied according to the lunar calendar.
Below, the Corodians’ rooms. Corrodians were retired monastic servants who were rewarded for their long service with food and board. This group also included older people who paid for their board and lodgings.
Below, stairs to the refectory.
Below, two images of the beautiful ceiling of the refectory.
Below, carved figures linking the walls to the ceiling ribs.
Below, a wonderful roof boss.
Below is a wall painting in what is called there “Painted Chamber”.
Below, is a modified version of the wall painting.
SC is St Catherine.
W is the wheel that she was tied to and executed.
Going to the right, there is a lion.
Going further right is a rich man on a bridge.
CT is the crown of thorns that was placed on Jesus’ head when he was crucified.
MA is St Margaret and ST where she has stabbed a dragon.
FE are the fish and eels in the river.
Below, the other side of the south block. The wooden building on the left of the photo is the old refectory with an amazing medieval tiled floor.
Below, in the next four photos are various sections of the floor.
The chevrons here represent thew de clare earls of gloucester.
the rampant lion represents the earls of cornwall.
Below, on the other side of the north wall is the church. Sadly, only the foundations exist.
Below, the remains of the church columns that held the roof up. The black rectangular feature was once a grave.
At the end of the East range is the door, half way up the building, from the dormitory into the church for monks to easily move from their beds to the church for nighttime services.
Why are parts of Cleeve abbey in such a ruinous state? Henry VIII closed it and all other monasteries., a process today known as the “Dissolution of the Monasteries”.
Why did he close the monasteries? To get a son, he needed to get a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, his first wife. Only the Pope could give him a divorce and the Pope refused. Henry therefore, created a new denomination (version of Christianity) called the “Anglican Church” or “Church of England” with himself as head of it. Most monks wanted to stay Catholic and to rid himself of this problem, he dissolved all of the monasteries! To stop monks living in their old buildings, he had the monasteries pulled down. Some abbots refused to accept him as the head of the church and so were executed. The abbot of Glastonbury was “hanged, drawn and quartered”. He also did it for money. He took all of the monastic possessions and sold off the land.
Why did he want money? Henry saw the King of France, Francis 1 as his great rival and so needed to money to defeat him in battle. Henry could then become King of France and be even greater than his 14th century predecessor, Henry V.
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Cleeve Abbey in Somerset is one of the best preserved monasteries in England. It has an amazing collection of medieval tiles and several of its buildings have impressive roofs, keeping the interiors dry. Walking around this tranquil abbey on a summer’s day gives an understanding as to the Cistercian monks choice of location. Beginning with the superb gatehouse, there are lots of rooms to explore especially the refectory where the monks ate and the dormitory where they slept. The questions what function did monasteries have in the medieval world and why were they closed are answered as well a brief introduction to medieval religious beliefs.