St Augustine's Abbey
The largest property in the village is St Augustine's Abbey, formerly The
Friary, home since 2011 to a community of Roman Catholic Benedictine monks who
moved here from Ramsgate in Kent once the Franciscan monks left.
St Augustine's Abbey in Sample Oak Lane welcomes visitors of faith and none.
Members of the public are invited to Mass and Divine Office which take place
daily, along with regular retreats, meditation groups and other events.
Listening to the monks pray and sing in English and Latin amidst the tranquil
setting of the Abbey Church is a highlight for many.
There is a guest house for Abbey visitors and those exploring their spirituality
or vocation. Living a life of prayer and contemplation, the down to earth and
very approachable monks also make and sell skin cream and lip balm as well as
furniture polish, all made from bees wax. For more information about all aspects
about St Augustine's Abbey, search online for Chilworth Benedictines
www.chilworthbenedictines.com or call 01483 899360.
Relating to history of The Friary at this location up to 2010, the Franciscan
Order had left England in times of persecution in the past and in 1887 they were
established in Flanders. They resolved that year that they would restart the
Order in England and in 1891 the Province in England officially began.
A site was needed for the Novitiate to get things started and a benefactor
appeared in the form of the Reverend Arthur Wells who undertook to pay for the
cost. On the 2nd April 1889 George Henry Drew of
No. 1, Portland Place, London, sold them for £960 most of the present site
less a small strip alongside the main road which was subsequently purchased for
another £15 from Samuel Barrow and Lord Grantley (the Lord of the Manor) in May
1889.
In designing the new buildings study was made of the remains of the original
church of the Order in Reading, and tenders were invited from seven local
Builders Firms. The first requirement on the site was for water and in 1890
Messrs Duke and Ockenden from Littlehampton installed a wind driven Artesian
Well drawing water from a clear source 110 ft below the present Friary. So
bountiful was this source that for a time it supplied much of the village with
water in times of drought.
On 6th October 1890 the foundation stone was laid and work began. The Rev Wells
underwrote the cost and on 23 June 1892 it was complete and was opened.
Monsignor Wells, as he had by then become, paid for it by defraying £7000 from
the estate of his aunt Mary Anne Alliott. She had in fact arranged this payment
just before her death on 18th January 1892 in Torquay, Devon. Mgr Wells paid
£6500 of his own money to fit out the Friary and in 1894 he spent a further £450
on the construction of the extension to it.
On 12th November 1892 the Home Office authorised the Friars to open their
cemetery for the Order, and on 29th December 1893 they were registered to
solemnize marriages under the title of "Greyfriars Church, Chilworth".
In the centre of the cloister there is a large yew tree which was planted from a
cutting taken from the Ancient Yew at the Friary at Muckross Abbey in Killarney,
which is reputed to dated from the foundation of that Abbey in 1430AD. It was in
the garden of the Friary that Ketelby wrote "In a Monastery Garden" whilst he
was visiting one of the Fathers there.
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