Waverley, Cistercian Abbey
of, situated in Surrey, near Farnham, founded by William Gifford,
Bishop of Winchester, on 24 Nov., 1124, was the second daughter of
L'Aumone, in Normandy, and the first monastery of the Order of
Citeaux in England. This claim to priority of establishment is
sometimes disputed in favour of the Abbey of Furness, but though
Furness was actually founded three or four years before Waverley,
yet it was then a daughter of Savigny, and was not affiliated to
the Cistercian Order until the year 1147. Bishop William endowed
it with large possessions and, along with many other ecclesiastics
and nobles, granted it numerous privileges which were confirmed
and even increased by Henry de Blois, brother of King Stephen and
successor of William in the episcopal office. The first century of
its existence was the golden age for Waverley, in which period it
founded six monasteries and, despite the number of its members
thus sent away, it had 70 choir religious and 120 lay brothers in
1190. In 1201 the abbey suffered from an inundation; so that in
1203 the foundations for a new church were laid, and for a new
monastery also, but on higher ground. This church was not opened
until 1231, when it was dedicated with great solemnity. In 1225
Henry III visited the abbey and, at his own request, was granted
an honorary membership in the community. Waverley now became less
and less important, until at the time of its suppression by Henry
VIII (1536) it contained but thirteen religious. After the
dissolution the property passed through various hands, becoming
with each change more desolate; the cloister was still standing in
1673, at the present time nothing but the bare site of Waverley
remains.
DODSWORTH AND DUGDALE,
Monasticon anglicanum, ed. CALEY, V (London, 1825); MANRIQUE,
Annales cistercienses (Lyons, 1642-59); JONGELINUS, Notitia
abbatiarum ord. cist. (Cologne, 1640); TANNER, Notitia monastica
(London, 1744); MARTENE AND DURAND, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum,
IV (Paris, 1717); WALBRAN, Memorials of the Abbey of Fountains
(Durham, 1863); UGHELLI, Italia sacra, III (Venice, 1877); LYNAM,
The Abbey of St. Mary Croxden (London, 1911).
EDMUND OBRECHT
