Cerne Abbey

{{Short description|Abbey in Cerne Abbas, United Kingdom}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} [[File:Dorset ca mh.jpeg|thumb|Abbey House]] [[File:Cerne Abbey Guesthouse large.jpg|thumb|Abbey Guest House]] [[File:Cerne Abbey large.jpg|thumb|Abbot's Porch]] [[File:The Tithe Barn Cerne Abbas - geograph.org.uk - 552971.jpg|thumb|Tithe barn]] '''Cerne Abbey''' was a [[Benedictine]] [[monastery]] founded in 987 in the town now called [[Cerne Abbas]], Dorset, by [[Æthelmær the Stout]].

==History== The abbey was founded in 987 by [[Æthelmær the Stout]]. [[Ælfric of Eynsham]], the most prolific writer in [[Old English]], spent time at the abbey as a [[monk]] and teacher.<ref>[[Hutchinson Encyclopedia]] (1988), p. 14</ref>

[[King Cnut]] plundered this monastery during an attack upon the town, but afterwards became a benefactor of it.<ref name=bho>{{cite web|last=Page|first=William|title=Houses of Benedictine monks, The abbey of Cerne|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40139|work=A History of the County of Dorset, vol. 1|publisher=British History Online|accessdate=6 December 2013}}</ref>

By the time of the [[Domesday Book]], the abbey had added substantially to its endowment.<ref name=bho /> Much of this wealth has been credited<ref>Tom Licence, Goscelin of St Bertin and the Life of St. Eadwold of Cerne, Journal The Journal of Medieval Latin [http://brepols.metapress.com/content/l23064872q322525/ vol 16] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20140225142153/http://brepols.metapress.com/content/l23064872q322525/ |date=2014-02-25 }}</ref> to the [[veneration]] of [[Saint]] [[Eadwold of Cerne]], a 9th-century [[hermit]] reputedly a brother of [[Edmund of East Anglia|Edmund, king of East Anglia]]. Eadwold lived as a hermit on a hill about four miles from Cerne.

The later history appears to have been relatively uneventful; ''A History of the County of Dorset'' says that its history is "perhaps the least eventful of any of the Dorset houses with the exception of that of the sisters at [[Tarrant Abbey|Tarrant Kaines]]".<ref name=bho /> The abbey's history ended on a less positive note, with the last [[abbot]], Thomas Corton, accused of various offences including that of allowing the abbey and lands to become ruinous, and of keeping a mistress who seems to have borne him children. The accusations were taken seriously enough to warrant inspection by commissioners, and the abbey was closed in 1539.<ref name=bho />

Following [[Dissolution of the Monasteries]], the buildings were mainly demolished. Abbey House, a Grade I [[listed building]], occupies the site of the [[gatehouse]] and incorporates parts of it. Most of the house dates from after a fire in the middle of the 18th century in which the gatehouse was seriously damaged.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1323849 |desc=Cerne Abbey |accessdate=12 June 2016}}</ref> The late 15th-century Guest House of the abbey is also Grade I listed,<ref>{{NHLE|num=1119470 |desc=Guest house of Cerne Abbey |accessdate=12 June 2016 |fewer-links=x}}</ref> as is the very elaborate stone vaulted porch of the abbot's hall, built around 1500, which survives in the midst of a wooded lawn,<ref>{{NHLE |num=1152342 |desc=The Abbot's Porch |accessdate=12 June 2016 |fewer-links=x}}</ref> with a Grade II* listed, early 16th century barn lying to its north.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1323850 |desc=North barn 75 metres north-north-west of the Abbot's Porch |accessdate=12 June 2016 |fewer-links=x}}</ref> A Grade I listed, 14th-century [[tithe barn]], converted to a house in the late 18th century, lies to its east.<ref>{{NHLE|num=1119439 |desc=The Tithe Barn |accessdate=12 June 2016 |fewer-links=x}}</ref>

==Abbots of Cerne== *Ælfric, appointed about 987, on the refoundation of Cerne as a Benedictine monastery *Alfric Puttoc, occurs 1023 *Withelmus, occurs 1085 *Haimo, deposed 1102 for [[simony]] *William, occurs 1121 *Bernard, became abbot of Burton in 1160 *Robert, occurs 1166 *Dionysius, occurs 1206, resigned 1220 *R., elected 1220 *William de Hungerford, elected 1232 *Richard de Suwell or Sawel, elected 1244, died 1260 *Philip, elected 1260 *Thomas de Ebblesbury, elected 1274 *Gilbert de Minterne, elected 1296, died 1312 *Ralph de Cerne, elected 1312, died 1324 *Richard de Osmington, elected 1324 *Stephen Sherrard, elected 1356 *Thomas Sewale, elected 1361, died 1382 *John de Hayle, elected 1382, died in same year *Robert Symondsbury, elected 1382 *John Wede, elected 1411, died 1427 *John Winterborne, elected 1427, died 1436 *John Godmanston, elected 1436, died 1451 *William Cattistoke, elected 1451, died 1454 *John Helyer, elected 1454, resigned 1458 *John Vanne, elected 1458, died 1471 *Roger Bemyster, elected 1471, died 1497 *Thomas Sam, elected 1497, died 1509 *Robert Westbury, elected 1510, died 1524 *Thomas Corton, elected 1524, surrendered his abbey 1539<ref name=bho />

==References== {{reflist}} * Anthony New. 'A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales', p107-09. Constable. * Houses of Benedictine monks: The abbey of Cerne, A History of the County of Dorset: Volume 2 (1908), pp. 53–8.

==External links== * [https://cerneabbey.com Official website of Cerne Abbey]

[[Category:987 establishments]] [[Category:Anglo-Saxon monastic houses]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 10th century]] [[Category:Benedictine monasteries in England]] [[Category:Monasteries in Dorset]] [[Category:Grade I listed buildings in Dorset]] [[Category:1539 disestablishments in England]] [[Category:10th-century establishments in England]]