Elstow Abbey
Stone from crossing of the cloister vaulting, on display at Bedford Museum
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| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | The Abbey Church of St Mary and St Helena, Elstow |
| Established | c.1075 |
| Disestablished | 1539 |
| Site | |
| Location | Elstow, Bedfordshire, England |
| Coordinates | 52°06′54″N 0°28′10″W / 52.11495°N 0.46935°WCoordinates: 52°06′54″N 0°28′10″W / 52.11495°N 0.46935°W |
| Visible remains | church |
Elstow Abbey was a monastery for Benedictine nuns in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England. It was founded c.1075 by Judith, Countess of Huntingdon, a niece of William the Conqueror, and therefore is classed as a royal foundation.
The Church dedicated to St Mary and St Helen, used to extend eastwards for some considerable distance, and contained a central tower, chancel, and Lady chapel. The foundation stones still cause much trouble to the Sexton, though he sometimes unearths beautiful tiles from the old chancel floor.
The monastery was known to have been involved in numerous lawsuits, with an array of monasteries including that of Dunstable Priory, Newhouse and St Albans Abbey, concerning the advowson of various parishes. The nuns often appear to have resorted to aggressive behaviour. There was further trouble in the 14th century when the nearby hospital of St Leonard needed to close and divert a footpath used by the abbey, for the purpose of building construction. The abbess objected and even following a lawsuit in which the abbey lost, they still prevented the work for a further two years until the hospital successfully sought intervention by the Crown, obtaining letters patent.
Further incidents followed:
In 1337 Elizabeth Morteyn, who was then abbess, claimed the 'third penny' from the town of Bedford, in virtue of an alleged grant from Malcolm IV, King of Scotland; the case was carried before Parliament, and the burgesses were successful in proving that Malcolm never had any lordship in the town.
There were numerous reports and complaints of unorthodox behaviour, with a visiting bishop commenting that there was 'too much wandering of the nuns out of the monastery.' Also, as many of the nuns and usually the abbess came from high ranking families, they had friends at court who often visited and even stayed in the monastery purely for social reasons. Some 'secular' women even seem to have been living in the monastery and eventually Bishop Gynwell ordered that none were to stay except those granted a special licence to do so. Even so, in 1379 Bishop Buckingham had to order the abbess to dismiss all secular persons from the monastery.
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Wikipedia