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Show British National Trust Obtains Hayles Abbey Ruins; Little Is Left Above Ground The latest acquisition of the National Na-tional Trust are the beautiful ruins of Hayles Abbey, on the edge of the Cotswolds, not far from the quaint little village of Winchcombe, says the London Times. The gift includes the existing small museum of abbey relics and the surrounding meadowland, with two cottages, one of which Is occupied occu-pied by the caretaker. Hayles abbey lies close to the Roman Ro-man road from Cirencester and the Cheltenham-Broadway road, in a much-visited district. It was once a place of considerable importance, although there is not now very much above ground to indicate its former magnificence. It was founded by Richard Earl of Cornwall in 1246, the outcome of a vow made on a stormy passage from Mordeaux to England. Richard, Rich-ard, as brother of Henry III, was a man of position and wealth. He endowed en-dowed the abbey liberally and colonized col-onized it by bringing twenty monks and ten lay brothers from the Cistercian Cis-tercian abbey of Beaulieu, in the New Forest, which had been founded found-ed by his father, King John. The dedication, which took place five years later, was an affair of great splendor, attended by Henry and his aueen, all the most important barons bar-ons more than a dozen bishops and some 300 knights. This very considerable con-siderable party was lavishly en.er-tained en.er-tained by the earl. Richard was the only Englishman who ever occupied the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. He was unable un-able however, to stabilize his au thority and died In England in 1272. He was buried before the high altar at Hayles. The most outstanding event In the history of Hayles, however, occurred oc-curred in 1270, when Edmund, the earl's son, presented the monks with a vial containing a relic of the Blood of Christ which he had obtained in Germany. Another part of this relic was given by Edmund to his College of Bonhommes, at Ashridge, and until the Dissolution these two foundations prospered greatly by the number of pilgrims who came to see the reliquary. That the "blood" was proved to be only honey, clarified and colored witli saffron water, by a special commission which was appointed in 1539, was by then of little account. The Dissolution was then In progress, prog-ress, and the "holy relic" had served its purpose as an unfailing source of income for nearly 300 years. The Abbot of Hayles had been one of the commissioners who had determined de-termined the famous relic, and on the suppression of his monastery was granted a 100 pension for life. The abbey itself was granted grant-ed to Sir Thomas Seymour, and through his family descended to the Tracys. Much of it was pulled down to build a large mansion, which existed ex-isted until early in the Eighteenth century. But some of the stonework wa used in the building of the tiny parish par-ish church toward the end of the Sixteenth century. It still stands, and is of considerable interest. |
