Hailes Abbey, Gloucestershire

Located on the southwest outskirts of Gloucester and a mile from Winchecombe, Hailes Abbey was founded by the Cistercians in 1246. It now lies in ruins, and is a peaceful and beautiful place to visit. Despite the abbey's historical importance and enduring loveliness, you may have the site to yourself.

Hailes Abbey was founded by Richard, Earl of Cornwall (brother of Henry III), in 1246. Terrified by a terrible storm during a voyage at sea, Richard swore to found a religious house if he survived. He did survive, and he kept his vow.

Henry III granted him the manor of Hailes, and there Richard established an abbey with the help of Cistercian monks from the abbey of Beaulieu in Hampshire. Construction of Hailes Abbey was completed in just five years, and it was consecrated in 1251. Henry III, Queen Eleanor of Provence, and 13 bishops attended the consecration ceremony.

About 1270 the abbey acquired a vial said to contain the blood of Christ, declared genuine by the patriarch of Jerusalem, who later became Pope Urban IV. The east end of the abbey church was extended, and there the vial was kept in a special shrine. With the holy blood in its possession, Hailes became one of the most popular pilgrimage destinations in medieval England. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries destroyed the Abbey in 1539, the enshrined liquid was examined in London and announced to be a mixture of saffron and honey.

After the Dissolution, Hailes Abbey was granted to Katherine Parr (sixth wife of Henry VIII), and passed down through the family. The abbey church was demolished during this period, and some of the monastic buildings were converted for use as a family home. By the end of the 18th century the site had suffered extensive destruction and it was left in an overgrown and decaying state until it was excavated some 100 years later.

Now in picturesque ruins, Hailes Abbey is once again a place of peace and solitude, with sheep grazing near the ruined arches that stand silently in a quiet meadow.

Although it now lies in ruins, Hailes Abbey is still a fine edifice; particularly impressive are the remains of the cloister arches. Traces of the rich moldings used can be seen in some of the arches, and other fragments of detail can be made out with closer inspection. The position of the sacred shrine can still be made out.

Most of the surviving artifacts from the site are now exhibited in the small onsite museum, and include medieval floor tiles, vaulting bosses, pieces of a 13th-century effigy of a knight, and finely carved stone believed to be from the shrine. The museum includes a shop.

The little chapel just outside the gates of Hailes Abbey is decorated with medieval wall paintings, mostly heraldic crests but also figures of saints and a hunting scene complete with hounds and a cowering hare.

So popular was the abbey to medieval pilgrims that the Prior of Hailes built a hotel to house the richer visitors. This hotel lives on as The George Hotel, at Winchcombe. The building itself has been altered several times, but still retains an open gallery over the courtyard.

Address:	Near Winchecombe, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, off B4632
Owner:	National Trust
Phone:	01242 602398
Hours:	10-5 (weekends only Nov thru March)
Cost:	Free

Hailes Abbey - National Trust
Hailes Abbey - WCities
Hailes Abbey - Britain Express
Hailes Abbey - Heritage Trail
Hailes - Cistercians in Yorkshire