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Summary

Benedictine community established in Woolhampton in 1903 on the site of a 19th century Catholic college and church, with a complex of buildings including a school that closed in 1999

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Listed Building (II*) 1156252: DOUAI ABBEY CHURCH
• Listed Building (II) 1156201: BLOCK APPROXIMATELY 15 METRES TO NORTH OF GATEHOUSE AT DOUAI SCHOOL
• Listed Building (II) 1156246: BLOCK APPROXIMATELY 30 METRES TO NORTH EAST OF GATEHOUSE AT DOUAI SCHOOL
• Listed Building (II) 1319513: HALL APPROXIMATELY 25 METRES TO NORTH OF GATEHOUSE AT DOUAI SCHOOL
• Listed Building (II) 1117270: RANGE APPROXIMATELY 50 METRES TO NORTH OF GATEHOUSE AT DOUAI SCHOOL
• Listed Building (II) 1117269: GATEHOUSE AND FLANKING BLOCKS AT DOUAI SCHOOL

Monument Type(s):

• THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE (Victorian to Edwardian - 1838 AD to 1903 AD)
• BENEDICTINE MONASTERY (Edwardian - 1903 AD to 1903 AD)
• CHURCH SCHOOL (Edwardian to Late 20th century - Present - 1903 AD to 1999 AD)

Full Description

The complex of buildings called Douai Abbey originated from the Roman Catholic Diocesan College of St Mary's which was founded in the early 19th century. The local land-owning families were Catholic, and had given land and a number of cottages (including one converted to a chapel) at Woolhampton Lodge to their chaplain. A second Catholic church was built in 1833 but became too small for the local congregation and the pupils of St Mary's <1>. It was later demolished. A further brick chapel of this seminary was built in 1848 by George Wigley, and other blocks, now listed buildings, were built in a Gothic style by F A Walters in the 1880s and 1890s <2><3><10>.

The First Edition Ordnance Survey mapping of 1880 <17> marks a building still called 'Woolhampton Lodge' at a junction of roads on high ground north of Woolhampton Park. Attached to Woolhampton Lodge is a long block named St Mary's College, with a playground to one side, and the 1848 chapel at right angles on its northern end. There is a Graveyard on its north side. The Second Epoch OS of 1899 <18> shows the expansion of St Mary's College with Walters' buildings forming a more regular three sided quadrangle, still with St Mary's Church at the northern end.

Benedictine monks who had left England after the Suppression to live in Douai in northern France, were forced by later circumstances to make a return journey. A history of Douai Abbey <9> notes that the expulsion of the community from its home in France in 1903 came about due a movement to curb the church's power in that country; the French government introduced radical programmes to separate Church and State, including a campaign against Catholic private schools. St Edmund's College in Douai which had been established in the early 19th century had to close, and the Abbot entered negotiations with English diocesan authorities over moving to new premises. On 16/05/1903 the boys were told that the abbot had accepted the offer of the Bishop of Portsmouth of St Mary’s College, Woolhampton, as their new home. Douai School was created by the merger of St Edmund's and St Mary's Colleges.

The property at Woolhampton in 1903 was considered cramped and in disrepair compared with the more ample resources that had been left behind in France <9>. St Mary's College then consisted a three-sided quadrangle made up of the school chapel of St Mary's to the north, the main cloister with dormitory above to the east, and on the south side the School Tower and Haydock wing which had been built just before the monks settled at Woolhampton and which housed the refectory, study hall, professors’ studies, and the domestic staff quarters. The estate at Woolhampton only comprised seven acres in 1903, but had increased to 150 acres by the end of the 20th century through the purchase of additional land including Ferris's Farm, Greyfield Wood and Withy Copse in Beenham <9>.

A school refectory was built to the north during the First World War, and more buildings followed on the site, most notably the Abbey Church begun in 1928, but left unfinished from 1932 for over sixty years <4>. A modern extension to the Abbey Church was completed in 1993. Further changes occurred when Douai School closed in 1999, and at the start of the 21st century redevelopment converted many of the school buildings into residential accommodation. In 1999 the community also organised an architectural competition to provide them with new monastic buildings to allow their charitable work to continue, and a master plan was drawn up for future development.

The original church of St Mary's is one of three within the Woolhampton Roman Catholic parish, served by the Benedictine monks of Douai Abbey. The other two are St Luke's in Theale and St Bernadette's in Pangbourne.

An aerial photograph from 1931 <14> shows the abbey church under construction.

The GIS polygon encompasses the historic buildings of the community, some of which became private housing in the early 21st century. Important elements have individual HER entries.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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