Wherwell Abbey (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Wherwell Priory; Werwellam; Warewella

In the civil parish of Wherwell.
In the historic county of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Modern Authority of Hampshire.
1974 county of Hampshire.
Medieval County of Hampshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU39124075
Latitude 51.16469° Longitude -1.44189°

Wherwell Abbey has been described as a Fortified Ecclesiastical site although is doubtful that it was such, and also as a probable Uncertain.

There are no visible remains.

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law*.

Description

Site of a Benedictine nunnery, founded circa 986 and dissolved in 1539, and the probable site of a Saxon minster. None of the buildings associated with the Abbey survive, the site is occupied by 'The Priory', an early-mid 18th century country house. (PastScape)

Provisum est igitur, et communi consilio provisè, ut sibi videbatur, statutum, quantinus penes abbatiam Werwellensem, quae a Ventâ civitate VI. miliariis distabat, trecentis ibi destinatis militibus, castellum construerent, ut scilicet inde et regales faciliùs arcerentur, et ciborum subsidia competentiùs in urbem dirigerentur. Sed regales consultum hujusmodi in malum suum machinatum advertentes, subitò, et insperatè, cum intolerabili multitudine Werwellam advenerunt, fortiterque in eos undique irruentes, captis, et interemptis plurimis, cedere tandem reliquos, et in templum se recipere compulerunt. Cumque vice castelli ad se defendendos templo uterentur, alii, facibus undique injectis semiustulatos eos e templo prodire, et ad votum suum se sibi subdere coegerunt. Erat quidem horrendum, et miserabile videre, quàm impiè, quàm truculenter in templo, pietatis videlicet, et orationis domo, armatorum cunei grassbantur; maximè quia, hic, alterutrim caedes committebantur, illic, captivi loris vinculati abstrahebantur;– hinc incendium templi, et domorum fastigia horribiliter depascebat, indè virginum Deo sacratarum, quae igne urgente suis de claustris invitae prodierant, clamor, et ejulatus altè resonabat. (Sewell - Gesta Stephani)

An attempt to fortify the Benedictine Nunnery in 1140 was prevented. (Renn)

Comments

There are some elements of clerical censor in the Gesta Stephani but there is no reason to discount the basic details in the account. Wherwell was a crossing point of the River Test, which was probably more of a barrier before modern drainage turned riverside marsh into meadow and a fort here would improve the security of the royal city of Winchester. The value of the abbey would have been as a place with buildings able to house 300 soldiers and their equipment in relative warmth and dryness rather than as a defensive structure (although the abbey buildings were probably naturally defended by the branches of the Test). Burning the buildings would have much reduced this strategic value.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1301832
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 228236.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 19060.

Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2011, Defending Hampshire: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present (Stroud: The History Press) p. 243 (listed in Appendix)
  Barron, W.G., 1985, The Castles of Hampshire and Isle of Wight (Paul Cave) p. 51
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 344
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longmans)
  Doubleday, H. Arthur, 1903, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 2 p. 132-7 online transcription
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Sewell, R.C. (ed), 1846, Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum p. 83 online copy (The newer edition and translation by Potter, K.R. (ed), 1976 (2edn), Gesta Stephani (Oxford University Press) p. 130-2 should be consulted for serious study. See also Speight, S., 2000, 'Castle Warfare in the Gesta Stephani' , Château Gaillard Vol. 19 see online transcription)
  Hardy, D.H., (ed), 1840, Willelmi Malmesbriensis monachi gestis regum Anglorum atque Historiae novella (London) p. 752 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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