Launde Abbey
{{Short description|Manor house in Leicestershire, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
Image:Launde Abbey Chapel Leicestershire.jpg
Launde Abbey is located in Leicestershire, England, 14 miles east of the city of Leicester and 6 miles south west of Oakham in Rutland. The house was built on the site of the Augustinian Launde Priory. The Grade II* listed building is predominantly used as a conference and retreat centre by the Church of England dioceses of Leicester and Peterborough.
History
The abbey is an Elizabethan manor house, extensively modified, built on the site of an Augustinian priory, Launde Priory. The original priory was founded before 1125 (in 1119 according to a modern inscription in the reception hall) by Richard Basset and his wife Matilda (née Ridel).{{cite DNB|wstitle=Basset, Richard|last=Round|first=John Horace|authorlink=John Horace Round|volume=3}} Its revenues at the dissolution of the monasteries were £510-16-1d and payments £117-12-10d (annual value almost £400).{{cite book |last1=Curtis |first1=John |title=A Topographical History of the County of Leicester: The Ancient Part Compiled from Parliamentary and Other Documents, and the Modern from Actual Survey: Being the First of a Series of the Counties of England and Wales, on the Same Plan. |date=1831 |publisher=W. Hextall |location=Ashby-de-la-Zouch |pages=[https://archive.org/details/atopographicalh00curtgoog/page/n144/mode/2up?view=theater 91]–92 |url=https://archive.org/details/atopographicalh00curtgoog/page/n144/mode/2up?view=theater}}
Launde is set in countryside in the valley of the River Chater. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries, so liked its position that he wrote in his diary "Myself for Launde" but Cromwell never occupied the house as he was executed in 1540. In that year the building of the new house commenced. His son, Gregory, lived at Launde Abbey for ten years after its construction with his wife, Elizabeth, the sister of Jane Seymour the third wife of Henry VIII. In 1603 Launde was acquired by William Smith and in 1763 Dorothy Jennings sold it to John Simpson; in 1828, Mary Finch Simpson married Edward Dawson (1802-1859) of Long Whatton who by this marriage acquired Launde.{{sfn|Curtis|1831|p=[https://archive.org/details/atopographicalh00curtgoog/page/n146/mode/2up?view=theater 92]}} They engaged Thomas Rickman to restore the house from 1829 to 1839. The Dawsons continued to own the estate throughout the 19th century.
In 1957, Cecil Coleman and his wife bought the abbey and presented it to the Diocese of Leicester. They paid for the conversion works to make it into a retreat house.[http://www.parksandgardens.org/places-and-people/site/5216/history Parks and gardens website]
The chapel is thought to be all that remains of the original priory church. Some of its stained glass is mediaeval and Nikolaus Pevsner has described the monument to Gregory Cromwell as "one of the purest monuments of the early Renaissance in England".{{Cite web |title=Launde Abbey |url=https://www.lrgt.org/places/launde-abbey/ |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=Leicestershire and Rutland Gardens Trust |language=en-GB}} There are numerous memorials of the Simpson family who bought Launde in 1763 and enlarged the house and laid out the plantations.Firth, J. B. (1926) Highways and Byways in Leicestershire. London: Macmillan; pp. 240-41. The chapel is used for daily worship by the resident community and guests and is an attraction for visitors. There is a small, 5-stop pipe organ, built by Henry Speechly in c. 1880, and restored by Roy Young in 1989.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=H01039|title=National Pipe Organ Register: H01039|access-date=10 April 2021}}
In 2009 the abbey launched a successful £1 million appeal to bring the house up to the standards required by legislation. If the money had not been raised, the abbey would have been forced to close.[https://web.archive.org/web/20100119051726/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/religion/5251072/12th-century-Church-retreat-house-faces-closure-because-of-health-and-safety-finest.html 12th-century Church retreat house faces closure because of health and safety] The Daily Telegraph; 1 May 2009 Both the abbey and the associated chapel
are Grade II* listed buildings.{{NHLE| num=1074857| desc= Launde Abbey |accessdate = 9 September 2015}}{{NHLE| num=1361007|desc= Launde Abbey Chapel |accessdate = 9 September 2015}}
References
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External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{Official website|https://www.laundeabbey.org.uk/}}
{{coord|52.6312|-0.8234|type:landmark_region:GB-LEC|display=title}}
{{Monasteries in Leicestershire |state=expanded}}
Category:1125 establishments in England
Category:1530s disestablishments in England
Category:Augustinian monasteries in England
Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1120s
Category:Church of England church buildings in Leicestershire
Category:Country houses in Leicestershire
Category:Elizabethan architecture
Category:Grade II* listed buildings in Leicestershire