|
Vale Royal Abbey is a medieval abbey, and later a country house, located in Whitegate, between Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, England. The abbey was founded in 1270 by Edward I for monks of the austere Cistercian order. The king intended the abbey to be on the grandest scale, however, financial difficulties meant that these ambitions could not be fulfilled and the final building was considerably smaller than planned. The project ran into problems in other ways too; the abbey was frequently grossly mismanaged, relations with the local population were so poor as to result in large scale violence on a number of occasions and internal discipline was frequently bad. Vale Royal was closed in 1538 by Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Much of the abbey, including the church, was demolished but some of the cloister buildings were incorporated into a mansion by Thomas Holcroft, an important government official, during the 1540s. Over subsequent centuries this house was considerably altered and extended by successive generations. The building remains habitable and contains surviving rooms from the medieval abbey, including the refectory and kitchen. The foundations of the church and cloister have also been excavated. It is a scheduled ancient monument, and recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II * listed building. ==Foundation== The abbey we now know as Vale Royal was founded by Prince Edward, the future Edward I, prior to his accession to the throne. In 1263 the prince was undertaking a sea voyage from France when his ship was caught in a terrible storm. He then made a vow that if he came safe to land he would found an abbey of unprecedented size and grandeur as a thanksgiving to God for saving him. Political problems and civil war meant that the vow could not be fulfilled immediately, but by 1266 negotiations were in hand for the establishment of a monastery of Cistercian monks in the secluded location of Darnhall in Cheshire. In August 1270, Edward granted a charter to his new abbey along with an endowment of lands and churches. As so often in the history of the abbey things did not go smoothly; preparing the site took considerable time and the first monks, led by Abbot John Chaumpeneys,〔 did not arrive at Darnhall from Dore Abbey until 1274. The foundation of the new abbey provoked anger, resentment and strong resistance from the people of the area and the Darnhall site itself was found to be unsuitable for the huge buildings planned.〔 In 1276 Edward, by now king, agreed to move the abbey to a better site and a location was chosen in nearby Over on the edge of the Forest of Mondrem. With its foundation, the new ecclesiastical site was named Vale Royal. In 1277 the King and Queen Eleanor and numerous great nobles arrived at Over to lay the foundation stones of the new abbey.〔 In 1281 the monks moved from Darnhall to temporary accommodation on the Vale Royal site while the abbey started to rise around them. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vale Royal Abbey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|