Douai Abbey
| Douai Abbey | |
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 Douai Abbey
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| Coordinates: 51°24′33″N 1°10′19″W / 51.409185°N 1.171846°W | |
| OS grid reference | SU5770468214 |
| Location | Woolhampton, Berkshire |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Website | www.douaiabbey.org.uk |
| History | |
| Founded | 1615 |
| Founder(s) | Dom Gabriel Gifford |
| Dedication | St Edmund the Martyr |
| Dedicated | 1933 |
| Events |
1615 Founded in Paris |
| Architecture | |
| Status | Monastery |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Designated | 10 November 1980 |
| Architect(s) | J Arnold Crush |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | 1903 |
| Completed | 1993 |
| Administration | |
| Deanery | West Berkshire |
| Diocese | Portsmouth |
| Province | Southwark |
| Clergy | |
| Abbot | Rt Rev Geoffrey Scott OSB |
| Priest(s) | Peter Bowe OSB |
1615 Founded in Paris
1818 Moved to Douai
Douai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey at Woolhampton, near Thatcham, in the English county of Berkshire, situated within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. Monks from the monastery of St. Edmund's, in Douai, France, came to Woolhampton in 1903 when the community left France as a result of anti-clerical legislation. The abbey church is a grade II* listed building, and the gatehouse, hall and three blocks of buildings are grade II listed.
The community of St. Edmund was formed in Paris in 1615 by Dom Gabriel Gifford, later Archbishop of Rheims and primate of France. With his backing the community flourished. Expelled from Paris during the Revolution, the community took over the vacant buildings of the community of St Gregory's in Douai in 1818.
Amid the political upheavals caused by the Dreyfus affair around the turn of the 19th century, the French prime minister Waldeck-Rousseau introduced an anti-clerical Law of Associations (1901) that "severely curbed the influence of religious orders in France". This led to the community being given the minor seminary of St. Mary in Woolhampton by Bishop Cahill of Portsmouth, moving from Douai to Woolhampton in 1903. The abbey church was opened in 1933 but only completed in 1993 due to financial constraints.
The monastery was greatly expanded in the 1960s with the building of the new monastery designed by Sir Frederick Gibberd. The abbey had in its charge Douai School until the latter's closure in 1999. In 2005, two monks returned to Douai, France to form a community there and restore the historic links to English monasticism.
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Wikipedia