Downside Abbey
Downside Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in England and the senior community of the English Benedictine Congregation. Until 2019, the community had close links with Downside School, for the education of children aged eleven to eighteen. Both the abbey and the school are at Stratton-on-the-Fosse, between Westfield and Shepton Mallet in Somerset, South West England. In 2020, the monastic community announced that it would move away from the present monastery and seek a new place to live. In October 2021, the monastic community further announced that as part of their transition they would move in Spring of 2022 to the temporary accommodation of "Southgate House, in the grounds of Buckfast Abbey, Devon, where we will live as the Community of St Gregory the Great". As of 2020, the monastic community of Downside Abbey was home to fifteen monks.
Abbey monastic basilica and library (left) | |
Location within Somerset | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Abbey of St Gregory the Great at Downside |
| Order | Benedictine |
| Denomination | Roman Catholicism |
| Established | 1606 |
| Mother house | Valladolid |
| Dedicated to | Gregory the Great |
| Diocese | Clifton |
| Controlled churches | Basilica of St Gregory the Great St Benedict's Church |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | St John Roberts OSB |
| Abbot | Dom Nicholas Wetz, OSB |
| Prior | Dom Anselm Brumwell, OSB |
| Important associated figures | Architects Archibald Matthias Dunn and Edward Joseph Hansom, Cardinal Gasquet, Ambrose Barlow, |
| Architecture | |
| Style | Gothic revival |
| Completion date | 1935 |
| Site | |
| Location | Southgate House, Buckfastleigh, Devon, England (temporary) (until 13 March 2022 – Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, England) |
| Coordinates | 51.2556°N 2.4954°W |
| Grid reference | ST655508 |
| Other information | Relics of St. Oliver Plunkett and St. Thomas de Cantilupe |
| Website | https://www.downsideabbey.co.uk/ |
The Abbey Church of St Gregory the Great, begun in 1873 and unfinished, is a Grade I listed building. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described its Gothic style as "the most splendid demonstration of the renaissance of Roman Catholicism in England".