Thursday 1 October 2015

Mount Grace Priory

It's certainly been a while since I made my last post here! Never fear, this blog is by no means forgotten. Today I thought I'd make a little post following an amazing trip up to Durham once more. 



On my way up north, I stopped off at Mount Grace Priory, just off the A19 near Thirsk. It's a place that was somewhat on my radar, though mainly because of the fact it was a monastery in Britain. I love a good monastery, so was looking forward to it, but had no real idea as to what I would encounter here. 

Well, I was in for an extremely pleasant surprise! 

Mount Grace was a Carthusian monastery, one of only ten such 'Charter Houses' to be founded in Britain. I've talked a lot about monasticism in Britain in previous blogs, primarily the Cistercians of course, along with my exhaustive look at the Dissolution. Here, however, we've got something completely different. 



The Carthusian Order did not follow the Rule of St Benedict, as per most medieval monastic orders, but rather harkened back to the desert fathers by emphasising a solitary, eremitical life. The order began in 1084, when St Bruno withdrew from the religious life of Reims to a secluded valley in the Chartreuse near Grenoble. He and his followers led a life of solitary devotion, coming together only to celebrate Matins in the morning and Vespers in the evening, and Mass only on feast days or at burials. 



Otherwise, the monks led an isolated life in a private cell within the monastic complex. These cells were strung out around the cloister, which provide the most striking remains at Mount Grace today. Rather than the usual, communal rooms surrounding the cloister such as the chapter house and the refectory, there are a series of small rooms within larger areas, and when I first arrived at this part of the complex, I was at a bit of a loss as to what these things could be. Moving through the complex, I became intrigued by all of this - the idea of a group of monks living alone together became utterly fascinating.



A monk would live within his cell, which was a two-storey affair, the ground floor being given over to the living space, small rooms where the monk would celebrate mass as well as sleep. On the first floor, a general-purpose work room. The cell had a walled garden, including a covered walkway that led to a latrine. While the monk could grow food in the garden, and had access to drinking water within the cell-complex, a hatch in the wall allowed food to be passed through without contact with other monks. 



It all seems very strange, and yet also makes perfect sense within the wider history of monasticism. After all, the original ideas of the desert fathers were to get away from the world entirely, and devote their life to spiritual devotion alone. To segregate themselves from fellow monks within an already-segregated complex seems a little like overkill, but certainly recalls the earlier tradition. 

Mount Grace is a really intriguing place, and certainly worth visiting if you enjoy monastic ruins. 

Sunday 1 March 2015

Happy St David's Day!



Happy St David's Day, everyone! 

To help mark the occasion, I thought I'd write a blog on the patron saint of Wales, using some pictures taken during my jaunt to Pembrokeshire back last summer (yes, believe it or not, these pictures were taken in early July 2014. It just looks so miserable though!)


^ the shrine of St David was restored in 2012

St David lived during the sixth century, the fabled age of saints, and spent a large amount of time founding monasteries around Wales and Brittany. The famous miracle of the creation of a hillock is attributed to him, where the ground raised up in order for him to address those who had flocked to hear him. He died on 1 March, possibly in 589AD, with an exhortation to his followers to "do the little things you have seen me do", which has become something of a motto in Wales. 


St Davids, on the western tip of Pembrokeshire, had long been renowned as a place of learning, and a great pilgrimage centre. William the Conqueror arrived here in 1081, reinforcing its significance as a holy place. In 1120, Pope Callixtus II beatified David, which really cemented its place in the religious life of the country - two pilgrimages to St Davids, it was said, were equal to one to Rome. 


The present cathedral was begun in 1181, after much had been done to improve the religious community here. In the early thirteenth century, Gerald of Wales became famous for his continual efforts to become Bishop of St Davids, largely due to the nationalist feeling being whipped up by Llywelyn the Great. King John, in his efforts to gain control over Wales, blocked Gerald's election whenever he could. Today, there is a statue of Gerald in the cathedral, the bishop's mitre sadly by his feet...



In the fourteenth century, Bishop Henry de Gower began an ambitious building programme in St Davids, bringing the city in line with the great cathedral-cities of England. Among his work is the construction of the Bishop's Palace opposite the west end. 



I love these sorts of buildings. Castles are great, and cathedrals and abbeys are stupendous, but palaces were purely domestic buildings, and have so much of interest when you look at how medieval life was really lived. Yes, they are more indicative of the lives of the ruling elite than the ordinary people, but they're pretty much all we have from a time when most houses were timber at best. And you know what? So much scholarship has been done in the last few decades over lives of the common people, I think it's about time we celebrated those lives of the upper crust once again!



The Bishop's Palace was really the product of the fourteenth century building programme of Henry de Gower, although a lot of work had been undertaken in the late thirteenth century by Thomas Bek, largely following a grant from Edward I. Bek had been the keeper of the king's wardrobe before being endowed with the bishopric, forming a close relationship with the king.



I absolutely loved exploring this building! The domesticity was an abiding factor, as I have already said; seeing where people entertained, where the food was cooked or stored, where people slept... it's a much more fascinating insight into the period than we can get from castles and the like today...




So yeah! Following the Reformation, St Davids was one of the new Protestant cathedrals of the realm. In the sixteenth century, an effort was made to remove the episcopal seat from St Davids to Carmarthen, for a more central location of the See, though this came to nothing. However, the Bishop's Palace suffered as a result by being stripped of much of its adornments. 




For a long time, however, the Bishops of St Davids had been staying here less frequently. St Davids is, after all, at the end of a very long road from the centre of the royal court, and bishops were important functionaries therein. The fifteenth century had seen a steady decline in favour of nearby Lamphey, when the bishop came to the See at all. 



Lamphey is much closer to the Norman castle at Pembroke, and so would perhaps make for a more convenient residence when the bishop was in the area. A manor is known to have been here in Gerald's time, but the present palace owes much to the building of Thomas Bek, with Henry de Gower seeming only to have renovated and updated. 




I really enjoyed Lamphey, too. It was a really miserable day when I visited, and I got soaked through by the time I'd finished exploring, but there's that irresistible allure of domesticity that I so enjoyed at St Davids. The palace here is set over a large area that would have been bustling with life as the bishop took up residence, with provisions laid out in the outer court ready for the feasting and entertainment of the halls of the inner court. 




One such hall was indeed built by de Gower, and bears his name still. The arcaded parapet is almost like his calling card, seen also in the palace at St Davids. It is also believed to have influenced the renovation work at Swansea Castle, Henry having close ties with the city.




The palace was sold into private hands following the Reformation, entering the Devereux family (later earls of Essex). Decline followed the Civil War, when it was converted into farm buildings. After a period as a curiosity for the nearby Lamphey Hall, the ruins we see today were eventually given to the state. It's quite sad to think of how it has fallen from such a position of power! 



Not far from Lamphey is Llawhaden Castle, which also formed part of the bishop's estates, though with perhaps a more colourful history.



The castle was originally a frontier post on the landsker, the border between Norman Wales and native Wales. For a time, it was held by Lord Rhys of Deheubarth, who is incidentally buried in St Davids, before it was taken by the Normans and, in 1281, became something of a special project for Thomas Bek. Bek made the town the richest within the See, though it wasn't until Adam de Houghton in the late fourteenth century that the castle itself was renovated.



The castle was very much dependent on the favour of the bishop of the time, as most of the fifteenth century saw it let to commoners. Bishop Hugh Pavy, over a century after Adam de Houghton, once again used it as his regular base in the See, where it is mentioned as fulfilling the role of episcopal prison among other things. 



Following the Reformation, the castle was stripped alongside the Bishop's Palace, and its decline continued the following century when it was partly demolished. 



So there you have it, a cathedral, two palaces and a castle, mostly in appalling weather! I was really unlucky with my holiday, and definitely want to go back and explore more of the area, hopefully with some sunshine! As befits the premier diocese of Wales, there are a lot of remnants of the monastic life of St David there, and it is definitely worth the visit! 

Happy St Davids Day everyone!



Thursday 1 January 2015

Happy New Year!

Okay, so day one may well be nearly over, but I'd just like to wish you all the very best for 2015 - and hope you get to discover some heritage treasures over the next twelve months! 

That's certainly my plan, at any rate!