The Winding Road to Alton Abbey

I had a very kind invitation from Jennefer Higginbottom to spend a day at Alton Abbey with the Community of the Benedictine Monks there. Jennefer arranged to pick me up at 9.30.am, although the weather was down cast and raining, and I was suffering from a bout of flu, the dark clouds soon disappeared and the sun made its radiant appearance.

It was a joy travelling with Jennefer, my guardian angel, to admire the beautiful changing colours of the autumn leaves along the winding country roads.

After an hour's drive, we arrived at Alton Abbey, secluded from the busy roads of life, but enclosed by the beautiful trees amongst the countryside, one of our gifts from 'God our creator'.

At 11.am we had said Communion in the Monastery chapel, where Bishop Timothy led the other Monks in the chanting of the office, and the Prior, Fr William Hughes, celebrated the 'Holy Communion'. It was lovely to be in the presence of our Lord, where Jennefer and I lit Candles for our dearly beloved departed, along with the other members of the Congregation.

When Holy Communion was over, there was a bring and buy stall, and we had a Buffet Lunch, which gave us the chance to meet the Abbott and the other Monks at the Abbey, along with the rest of the other members of the Congregation, as on that day, it was the Annual General Meeting of the daily running of the affairs of the Abbey.

The Community has been known by three names. In 1888-1893, it was called the Society of Saint Paul. During the period 1893-1982, the Community was known as the Order of Saint Paul and had an active work among merchant seamen. In 1982, the members of the Order of Saint Paul renewed their vows in the Benedictine formula and the monks are now styled with the letters OSB after their name. The Abbey Church is dedicated to Mary the Mother of Our Lord, and to John the beloved disciple; as a result of that patronage, the Abbey and the Community are sometimes referred to as being 'of Our Lady and Saint John'.

The Community dates its foundation from the ordination of the Revd Charles Plomer Hopkins, who was appointed as River Port Chaplain of Rangoon in Burma in 1884. He sought to recruit others to work alongside him. In 1888-9, he served as a novitiate with the Society of Saint Paul, based at the Parish Church of Holy Trinity, Shoreditch.

The parish brotherhood in Shoreditch was wound up in the early 1890's. Father Hopkins still wished to have a religious community, so he reopened the novitiate of the Society in which he alone remained. He made Life Profession of his vows in 1893, taking the name of Michael in religion. At that point, the Community became known as the Order of Saint Paul.

It became apparent to Father Michael that a British base was needed to provide for recruitment, training and rest for those involved in the active work. In 1894, a house was opened at Barry Dock in South Wales. It found there was a great deal of work to be done among those seamen who were out of work, or too old to go to sea.

In order to fulfil the need for a house in which the active work was to be pursued, a plot of land, called Kingswood Copse, was purchased at Beech, outside Alton, in 1895. The first monastic inhabitants lived in tents and wattle Huts, until a corrugated iron monastery could be built.

By 1900, the Community had gathered around them a group of elderly men who could no longer go to sea, providing a charitable home for them alongside the monastery. Other men who were out of work, presented themselves for charitable support at Alton Abbey when they were travelling to and from Southampton and Portsmouth.

The able-bodied among the men assisted in the erection of the first permanent buildings at the Abbey. The Gatehouse, designed by John Cyril Hawes, the Abbey Church was planned to extend as far east of the central tower as it now does to the west.

Following the death of Father Michael in 1922, the Pensionary for retired seamen was built as his memorial, reaching completion in 1928. This building, attached to the Church, forms the western cloister of the present buildings.

The Community of Monks continued to live in the corrugated iron monastery until 1956. A short-lived influx of novices in the mid 1970's necessitated the erection of an extension to the older buildings. The eastern side of the cloister was built in 1894 to house a shop, meeting room and the monastic Abbey Church.

During the mid-1990's the need for a more cohesive enclosure for the monastic Community was perceived, and so the Monks have moved into what was the Pensionary, and the Retreat House now occupies the eastern cloister.

Partly in order to achieve wider recognition as a member of the wider Benedictine family, the Order of Saint Paul revised its Constitution in 1982, since which time the Community has been known as the Order of Saint Benedict at Alton Abbey. At the same time, the Community was authorised by its Episcopal Visitor to elect an Abbott to be Superior of the Monastery, under the current leadership of The Very Revd Giles Hill OSB.

The Abbey is independent from state finances, and relies entirely on bread and wafer manufacturing, from the Community of the Benedictine Monks who worship at the Abbey, not to mention the self giving of donations and legacies from the outside community, in order to survive.

When the meeting was over at 1.30.pm, we had free time to wander round the tranquil grounds of the Abbey and to meditate, before tea and cakes. At 3.pm, we had Evening Prayer, along with chanting from the Benedictine Monks, which ended the day with spiritual refreshment for our journey home.

Leon Bartosiak