Downside Abbey

Downside Abbey stands in the quiet Somerset countryside near Stratton-on-the-Fosse, a former Benedictine monastery that once trained monks for England’s Catholic mission. The community began in 1607 at Douai in Flanders, founded by St John Roberts, and returned to England in 1795 after the French Revolution. For nearly two centuries the monks educated future missionaries, six of whom were beatified in 1929 and two canonised in 1970. The present abbey church, begun in 1873 and still unfinished, was designed in Gothic Revival style by Messrs Dunn and Hansom. Its stone came from local quarries that once supplied Wells Cathedral and Glastonbury Abbey. The monks once farmed 350 acres of the best cultivated land in the district. The church of St Gregory the Great is a Grade I listed building and was raised to a minor basilica in 1935 by Pope Pius XI. Its consecration was attended by Cardinal Seredi, seven archbishops, twelve bishops and over five hundred priests. The high altar was consecrated by Cardinal MacRory from Ireland, and the event cost more than £200,000 at the time. Inside the church lie the relics of St Oliver Plunkett, an Irish martyr executed in 1681. The abbey church is one of only four in the United Kingdom to hold this status. The monastic buildings, once home to fifty monks, now stand largely empty after the community left in 2022. Visitors find a vast stone church with lofty tower and spire rising above the fields. The Lady Chapel and transepts date from the 1870s, while the nave remains unfinished. The relics of St Oliver Plunkett rest in a side chapel, and the high altar gleams under the basilica’s dignity. The surrounding grounds cover 350 acres of farmland and woodland, once tended by the monks. The abbey church’s Gothic arches and vaulted ceilings show the craftsmanship of Dunn and Hansom. Though the monastery is quiet, the church remains a place of worship and pilgrimage.