Downside Abbey Country Life

8/4/2019 Downside Abbey Country Life

1/6

www.countrylife.co.uk108County Lif, Sptmb 14, 2011

Tere has cntly bn a vogu

fo count-factual histoy, an

intllctually igoous qustioning

of what would hav happnd had

cicumstancs bn dif fnt. If, fo xam-

pl, th Luftwaff had dfatd th rAF in

1940, would th magazin you a adingb in Gman? easi to answ is th qus-

tion of what th english landscap would

look lik if th dissolution of th monastis

had nv happnd. If ny VIII had did

in 1530, still maid to Cathin of Aagon,

and had bn succdd pacfully by his

daught, May, mo of ou countysid

would smbl th Somst villag of

Statton-on-th-Foss, south-wst of Bath,

which is psidd ov by Downsid Abby.

Th Bndictin Community of St Ggoy

th Gat at Downsid, which ncompasss

a famous public school as wll as a monas-

ty, povids a complling imag of how

monastic lif in england might hav con-

tinud had ny VII I not so abuptly ndd

it. Yt what w s dats no futh back than

th 19th cntuy. Th magnificnc of th

monastys buildings, spcially its gat

Gothic chuch, mbodis th momnt whnth roman Catholic Chuch, aft th

cntuis of posciption and discimina-

tion, flt abl fo th fist tim to asst its

idntity as Bitains histoic Chuch.

Th Downsid community was foundd in

1606 at Douai in what is now nothn Fanc.

Most of its monks w english xils, and

sval undtook dangous missionay wok

in thi nativ countysix w matyd

btwn 1608 and 1679. Fom aly on, th

monasty povidd an ducation fo th

sons of english cusant familis. A cucial

vnt fo th monks pcption of thi ightful

ol in english lif occud in 1607, whn

Dom Sigbt Buckly who was pofssd

as a monk duing th ign of May I in th

bif vival of th Bndictin community at

Wstminst Abby, gav th monastic habit

to two pists who joind th Douai commu-

nity, thus handing onto it th ancint ightsand pivilgs of th english Bndictins.

In 1795, th tid of histoy was vsd. As

th Fnch volutionay amis dvastatd

euopan monastic lif, th Douai community

fld to england. aving bn basd fo 20

yas at Acton Bunll in Shopshi, it movd

in 1814 into a small, aly-18th-cntuy hous,

Handsomely doneDownside Abbey Church, Somerset

Michael Hall describes the creation of a great Gothic church thatpersuasively suggests that the Reformation never happened

Photographs by Paul Barker

Fig 1 above: Downsides church from

the south. The tower was finished in

1938. Fig 2 facing page: The Lady

Chapel, designed by Dunn & Hansom.

Its furnishings are by Ninian Comper


2/6


3/6


Mount Plasantwhich still suvivsat

Downsid, a hamlt on th dg of Statton-

on-th-Foss. Although th pnal laws had

falln into dsutud, english Catholics w

still xcludd fom public lif, and so th Bn-

dictin Od in england maind oganisdalong missionay lins. As a sult, as wll as

continuing its school, Downsid xpctd

most of its monks to wok in paishs acoss

th county onc thy had bn pofssd.

Fom 1829, with th Catholic rlif Act,

lgal discimination against Catholics bgan

to b dismantld, a chang that was cog-

nisd by th papacy in 1850 with th sto-

ation in england of th Catholic hiachy.

In spons, th was a gowing dsi in th

english Bndictin communitis to mov

away fom thi missionay, paochial ol

towads th nclosd, contmplativ lif

consistnt thm thoughout th stoy of th

nw chuch is achitctual ambition: th

monks wantd a gat building and w

ppad to wait ath than compomis thi

idals. Th succssiv schmstwo by

Pugin, dawn up in 1839 and 1841, and onby Chals ansom, in 1846poposd a nw

monasty on th gandst possibl scal,

but nothing was don fo lack of funds.

Finally, in 1873, th foundation stons

w laid at Downsid, fo th chuch, th

monasty and th fctoy buildings that

w to b shad by th school and com-

munity. Accoding to tadition, Achbishop

(lat Cadinal) Manning, who laid th

chuchs foundation ston, askd th pio,

Dom Aidan Gasqut: A you building

a monasty o a town? Th dsigns w

a roman Catholic patnship, Achibald

nvisagd by th rul of St Bndict. Th

monks of Downsid took a lading pat in this

chang, which vntually sultd in Lo XIIIs

bullDiu Quidem of 1899, instucting th

english Bndictins to vis thi consti-

tutions on taditional monastic lins. In thsam ya, th Pop aisd th th piois

of english monks at Downsid, Amplfoth

and Douai to th status of abbys.

Cntal to this nw idal at Downsid was

th building of an abby chuch, which, six

tims a day, was to b th stting fo th

pays of th community, th opus dei that

St Bndict had stssd lay at th hat of

his rul. Downsid alady had a chapl,

dsignd in 1822 by th Bath achitct . e.

Goodidg, but within a gnation, it had

bcom too small fo th community (it still

suvivs, but has bn gatly altd). On


4/6

www.countrylife.co.uk County Lif, Sptmb 14, 2011 111

Dunn and edwad ansom, Chalss son.

Lgnd calls that Dunn saw that it was

handsom, and ansom saw that it was don,

which may indd b an accuat account

of th way thy dividd thi sponsibilitis.

Th complx stoy of thi dsigns fo thchuch at Downsid has bn unavlld by

roy ODonnll. Dunn & ansoms oiginal

poposal was basd on aly-13th-cntuy

nothn english xmplas, most impot-

antly th Cistcian monastis at Fountains

and lswh, but Gasqut wantd som-

thing mo opulnt. Th chuch that was

bgun in 1880 was divd fom lat modls,

most impotantly Wstminst Abby, that

all-impotant link btwn th modn

Bndictins and th mdival past. Wst-

minst is a bui lding of vy dict Fnch

inspiation, and Dunn & ansoms dsign

has stuck most popl as stongly Fanco-

phil, spcially in its tall, naow po-

potions and fiv-sidd aps, suoundd

by an ambulatoy and adial chapls.

Th fist pat to b compltd was th

cossing and tanspts, which w opnd

fo woship in 1882. Th communitys

ambition is vidnt in th gat sca l of th

tansptit is 68ft high intnallyits ichly

modlld lvations, which incopoata gat dal of sculptu (by A lfd Wall of

Chltnham), and by th dcision to ct

a mighty tow (Fig 1) on axis with th

south tanspt, spaatd fom it by th

cloist (Fig 5). By 1884, th tow had

isn to 132ft, and was still not complt,

as a stpl was intndd. Funds w not

yt sufficint to allow th choi to b bgun,

and so, as mo altas w ndd, it was

dcidd to build th astn chapls. Poly-

gonal in plan, thy flank a th-bay apsd

Lady Chapl, aisd ov a cypt, which

pojcts fom th ast nd of th chuch.

By th tim th Lady Chapl was opnd

in July 1888, th communitys achitctual

tast was shifting. Dunn & ansoms dsign

was old-fashiond vn bfo it was bgun,

as in th Anglican Chuch, th Gothic vival

had movd away fom 13th-cntuy modls,

whth english o Fnch, towads lat,

mo distinctivly english, Dcoatd and

Ppndicula styls. edmund Fod, who

was pio in 188588, bgan th pocssof aligning th chuchs styl by having

Dunn & ansom cast thi dsign fo th

two astn chapls that w thn und way,

thos of St Bndict and St Isido. As built,

thy a unmistakably english in appaanc,

thanks to thi Ppndicula styl and th

staight ast nds that english mdival

achitcts almost always pfd to apss

(pobably bcaus thy showd off th nativ

lov of laboat window tacy so wll).

In 1894, Fod tund to Downsid,

initially as pio onc mo, and thn, fom

1899, as th fist abbot. continud th

Fig 3 left: The sacristy, designed by F. A. Walters and completed in 1915. Fig 4 above:

The view from Giles Gilbert Scotts nave into the choir designed by Thomas Garner


5/6


anglicisation of th chuch by appointing

Ninian Comp to dcoat and funish th

Lady Chapl in 1894(Fig 2). Comp basd

his dsign on his scholaly study of th

chancl aangmnts of english mdival

chuchs. Th alta, nclosd by cutainssuppotd by fou iddl posts, is st against

a wall that squas off Dunn & ansoms aps;

it has a low, cavd dos of paintd and

gildd alabast basd on 15th-cntuy modls.

Comp wokd on th chapl fo many yas

(th glazing was not compltd until 1927),

and th sulting nsmbl is on of th

most bautiful, and bst psvd, xps-

sions of his english, lat-Gothic idal.

In 1895, Fod was facd with a difficult

poblm. Just as th mony to mbak on

th choi had bn aisd, Dunn & ansom

signd as th chuchs achitcts, bcaus

of ansoms ill halth. Th was no obvious

succsso, as englands lading roman

Catholic achitct, J. F. Bntly, was too busy

with Wstminst Cathdal. Thn, in 1896,

Lo XIII issud his bullApostolicae Curae,

which dclad that Anglican ods w

invalid, stiking at th notion that th Chuch

of england was pat of th univsal Catholic

Chuch. As a sult, th achitct Thomas

Gan convtd to roman Catholicism and

ndd his patnship with G. F. Bodly, whoas fa back as th 1860s had ld th Gothic

vival in th diction of lat english

mdival modls. Gan was pfctly

qualifid fo th challnging task of inst-

ing th choi into th spac btwn Dunn

& ansoms tanspts and astn chapls.

Th tchnical d ifficultis w compoundd

by Gan and Fods dcision to bak not

only with th styl of Dunn & ansoms build-

ing, but also with its plan. Gans choi

(Fig 4), which voks english chuchs of

about 1400, has a squa ast nd, with

th gat achs, miniscnt of thos in

th choi at Wlls Cathdal, and a tipa-tit ast window divd fom that at St

Albans Cathdal, which in th Middl Ags

had bn a Bndictin abby chuch.

Although whn Gan did in 1906, having

compltd th choi, th was no going back

on th stylistic chang that h had mad,

his dsigns fo th st of th chuch w

not followd. This was patly fo asons of

pacticalityfo xampl, his poposal fo

th sacisty was too small and was placd

by a Ppndicula dsign by F. A. Walts

(Fig 3). Thn, in 1917, th community com-

missiond Gils Gilbt Scott, dsign of

Livpools Anglican cathdal (wh th

choic of a roman Catholic achitct had

bn contovsial) to bui ld th nav. Thy

assumd that h would follow Gans intn-

tions, but Scott thought that was a dull ida

and poposd instad a dsign of his own.Th sult, opnd in 1925, is a subtl

finmnt and simplification of th dsign

of th on nav bay built by Dunn & ansom

to povid abutmnt fo thi cossing. This

was not all that Scott did at Downsid: h com-

pltd to his own dsign Dunn & ansoms

tow (without a stpl), ovsaw th con-

stuction of th choi stalls, which w

copid, at th monks qust, fom thos at

Chst Cathdal, and dsignd th sanctu-

ay aangmnts, lft unsolvd at Gans

dath. Scott also dsignd a splndid tomb

fo Cadinal Gasqut, th monastys fom

pio, who had bgun th building of th chuch,half a cntuy bfo. This bought th stoy

in a full ciclo almost. Th nav now con-

sists of svn bays, but Scott intndd two

mo, which xplains th last satisfactoy

aspct of th building, th navs tmpoay

wst font. Might th abby, which in 2014

clbats th 200th annivsay of its aival

at Downsid, choos to mak th occasion

by complting this gat bui lding?

Downside Abbey: An Architectural

History, edited by Dom Aidan Bellenger,

with photographs by Paul Barker, will

be published by Merrell in October

Fig 5: Benedictine monks process from the monastery along Dunn & Hansoms linking cloister towards the church

The monks ambition

is evident in the greatscale of the transept


6/6

www.countrylife.co.uk

Downside Abbey Country Life

Documents

Transcript of Downside Abbey Country Life