Boxley Abbey

Boxley Abbey in Kent, was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1143-46 by William Ypres, Earl of Kent, and colonised by monks from Clairvaux Abbey in France.

Notable events

In 1171 the then abbot was one of those responsible for the burial of the murdered archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. In 1193 the abbots of Boxley and of Robertsbridge Abbey journeyed to the continent to search for King Richard I, finally locating him in Bavaria. During 1512-13, the abbot appealed to the crown to arrest four of the monks, accusing them of rebelliousness.

The Relic

The abbey was famous, and later infamous, for a relic known as the Rood of Grace, a wooden cross, the figure upon which was supposed to miraculously move and speak. In 1538 during the dissolution of the monasteries, the person employed with the closure of the institution examined the famed relic and unsurprisingly discovered it to be a grotesque fake, observing the levers and wires that enacted the so called miracles. It was taken down and displayed in Maidstone market so as to demonstrate the fraud. Finally, it was sent to London and with the accompanyment of a sermon from the Bishop of Rochester it was hacked to pieces and burnt.

The Dissolution and beyond

The site of the abbey and many of its manorial estates were granted to Sir Thomas Wyatt in 1540. After the dissolution some of the complex was transformed into a house with the remainder virtually demolished. Parts survive within the present mainly 19th century house and there are some fragmentary remains of the church still standing. A large 13th century barn also survives. The site is private.

References

* "Houses of Cistercian monks: The abbey of Boxley", A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2 (1926), pp. 153-55.
* Anthony New. "A Guide to the Abbeys of England And Wales", p75-76. Constable.