Shrewsbury Abbey
| Shrewsbury Abbey | |
|---|---|
Shrewsbury Abbey
|
|
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Broad Church with Choral Tradition |
| Website | shrewsburyabbey.com |
| History | |
| Founded | 1083 |
| Dedication | St Peter & St Paul |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Holy Cross, Shrewsbury |
| Diocese | Lichfield |
| Province | Canterbury |
| Clergy | |
| Vicar(s) | Revd Paul Firmin |
| Laity | |
| Churchwarden(s) | Ken Poulter and Sue Oliver |
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Shrewsbury (commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey) is an ancient foundation in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England.
The Abbey was founded in 1083 as a Benedictine monastery by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery. It grew to be one of the most important and influential abbeys in England and an important centre of pilgrimage. Although much of the Abbey was destroyed in the 16th century, the nave survived as a parish church and today serves as the mother church for the Parish of Holy Cross.
The Abbey is a Grade I listed building and is a member of the Greater Churches Group. It is located to the east of Shrewsbury town centre, near to the English Bridge, and is surrounded by a triangular area which is today referred to as Abbey Foregate.
Prior to the Norman conquest a small Saxon chapel dedicated to St Peter existed outside the east gate of Shrewsbury, having been built by Siward son of Ethelgar and a close relative of Edward the Confessor. There was still a landowner, known as Siward the Fat, in Shropshire at Domesday, although he had owned many more estates in 1066. He must have been the donor of the two estates the church is known from Domesday to have held in 1066: at Boreton near Condover and Lowe near Farley. However, the Abbey had lost Lowe by 1087.
When Roger de Montgomery received Shropshire from William the Conqueror in 1071, he gave the church to one of his clerks, Odelerius of Orléans, the father of the historian Orderic Vitalis, who is the main source for the foundation of the Abbey and probably an eye-witness. Orderic stresses his father's role in persuading Earl Roger to commit himself to building a monastery and stresses that Odelerius from the outset wanted it to be Benedictine. The specific purpose was to benefit Earl Roger's soul.
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Wikipedia