Titchfield Abbey
Also known as The Abbey Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, Titchfield.
The ruins of 13th-century Titchfield Abbey, the last monastery of Premonstratensian canons to be founded in England, lie in the valley of the River Meon in south Hampshire. In 1537, after the Suppression of the Monasteries, the abbey was transformed into a grand mansion called Place House, reusing many of the monastic buildings. A large gatehouse was built across the nave of the monastic church.
The abbey of St Mary and St John the Evangelist was founded in the 13th century by Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, for Premonstratensian canons, an order founded at Prémontré in France and known also as the ‘white canons’. The canons lived a communal life under monastic vows, but were also involved in the wider community, preaching and teaching the Gospel. Of the 14 or 15 canons here, two served as vicars to nearby parish churches. The abbey was a minor house of its order, and became neither wealthy nor influential during its three centuries of monastic life; the inhabitants were devoted to scholarship, as shown by their very impressive library.
The abbey owned many thousands of acres of land and had its own farm buildings and a series of fishponds. Titchfield was a good stopping-off place for journeys to the Continent, and Henry V (r.1413–22) stayed there before departing on campaign in France.
At the Suppression of the Monasteries the abbey was granted to Thomas Wriothesley, later 1st Earl of Southampton, who was a loyal civil servant to King Henry VIII. He played a key part in the suppression and was given monastic lands as a reward.
Central to Wriothesley’s new domain were the 11 manors and 5,000 acres (2,024 hectares) surrounding Titchfield Abbey. He proceeded to transform the main abbey buildings into Place House, a residence fit for a rising courtier.
Guests at the house included Edward VI, Elizabeth I and Charles I with his queen, Henrietta Maria. Wriothesley’s grandson Henry, 3rd Earl of Southampton, was a patron of William Shakespeare and it is believed that some of Shakespeare’s plays were performed here for the first time. The abbey's location near Southampton and Portsmouth made it a convenient stopping place for journeys from England to continental Europe, other important visitors included. Richard II and Queen Anne stayed at the abbey in 1393, and Henry V was a guest on his way to Southampton to invade France in 1415. On 23 April 1445, the abbey church was the venue for a royal wedding; the marriage of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou was celebrated there by William Ayscough, Bishop of Salisbury.
On the death of the 4th Earl of Southampton Titchfield passed through several families, until the late 18th century, when most of the building was demolished for building stone. In the early 20th century archaeological excavations helped to clarify the layout of the monastic buildings.
Now for the Cache!
WP1 - What year was the abbey founded? ABCD
What year were 2 canons condemned? AEFB
N50 51.C (F+A) E
W01 13. F F (B+C+E)
WP2 - What year was the abbey given to Wriothesley? GHJK
What year was the building dismantled? GKLG
N50 51. (H-G) (J-G) (H+G)
W01 13. L (L+G) J
WP3 - When were they discovered? MNPQ
Eleanor of Castile's years MPRM - NS
North: H S . H A . Q (H&R) S
West S G . G J . L A A
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