HAYLES ABBEY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3895, 28 April 1937, Page 10

HAYLES ABBEY

FOR THE NATION. HOME OF FAMOUS FAKE RELIC. The latest acquisition of the National Trust are the beautiful ruins of Hayles Abbey, on the edge of the Costwolds, not far from the quaint little village of Winchcombe. This relic of ancient England is the gift of Mr G. Murray Andrews, Mr H. C. Andrews, Mr M. F. Maclean and Miss V. L. Maclean,, in memory of theii uncle and aunt, Mr and Mrs Hugh Andrews, of Toddington, Mr Andrews was owner and lord of the manor of Hayles.

The gift includes the existing small museum of abbey relics and the surrounding meadowland, with two cottages, one of which is occupied by the caretaker.

Halyes Abbey lies close to the Roman 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 raagn licence.

It was founded by Richard Earl of Cornwall in 1246, the outcome of a vow made on a stormy passage from Bordeaux to England. Richard, as brother of Henry 111, was a man of position and wealth. lie endowed the abbey liberally and colonised it by bringing 20 monks and 10 lay brothers from the Cistercian abbey of Beulieu in the New Forest, which had been founded by his father, King John. The dedication, which took place five years later was an affair of great splendour, attended by Henry and his Queen, all the most important barons, more than a dozen bishops and some 300 knights. This very considerable party was lavishly entertained by the earl.

Richard was the only Englishman who ever occupied the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. He was unable however, to stabilise his authority 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 in 1270. when Edmund, the earl’s son, presented the monks with a phial 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 Ashbridge, and until the Dissolution these two foundations prospered greatly by the number of pilgrims who came to see the reliquary and paid cash for the privilege of doing so.

That the “blood” was proved to be only honey, clarified and coloured with saffron water, by a special commission which was appointed in 1539, was by then of little account. The Dissolution was then in progress, 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 the famous relic, and on the suppression of his monastery was granted a £lOO pension for life. The abbey itself was granted to Sir Thomas Seymour, and through his family descended to the Tracys. Much of it was pulled doiwn to build a large mansion which existed until the eighteenth century.

But some of the stonework was used in the building of the tiny parish church toward the end of the sixteenth century. It still stands, and is of considerable interest. M,uch of the old glass in the east window came from the Abbot’s Chapel, while the really fine tiles which pattern the floor came from the abbey church.