Prinknash Abbey

Prinknash Abbey stands in the quiet Vale of Gloucester, near the village of Cranham. It is a Roman Catholic monastery belonging to the Benedictine order, part of the worldwide Benedictine Confederation. The abbey is known for blending resins and fragrance oils used in church incense. For nearly nine centuries the land has been linked with Benedictine monks. In 1096 the Giffard family gave the land to Serlo, Abbot of Gloucester, and a hunting lodge was built around 1520. The journey is worthwhile because the abbey has a long and unusual history. After the Dissolution in 1541 the house became a hunting lodge for Henry VIII. In 1928 Malcolm Leslie, 20th Earl of Rothes, gave the property to Benedictine monks from Caldey Island. Led by Abbot Ælred Carlyle, they arrived to convert the house into a monastery. The community grew from 25 monks and in 1972 moved into a new abbey designed by Frank Broadbent. The old house became St Peter’s Grange, a retreat and conference centre. Visitors find a peaceful monastery set among wooded hills. The 1972 abbey has simple stone buildings grouped around a cloister. St Peter’s Grange, a Grade I listed building, offers quiet rooms for retreat and meetings. The monks still blend incense in their workshop and keep a pottery tradition begun by Dom Asaph Harris in the 1940s. Nearby paths wind through the Gloucestershire countryside, giving views of the vale and distant Cotswold hills.