Waverley Abbey

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A part of the ruins of Waverley Abbey.

Waverley Abbey was the first Cistercian abbey in England, founded in 1128 by William Giffard, bishop of Winchester. It is situated about one mile south of Farnham, Surrey, in a bend of the River Wey.

During the first century of its existence, it founded six monasteries, and despite the members thus sent away, had 70 monks and 120 lay brothers in 1187, and kept about thirty ploughs.

The site was subject to regular flooding, however, and in 1203 the foundations for a new church and monastery were laid on higher ground. The new church was dedicated in 1231.

King John visited Waverley in 1208, and Henry III in 1225. The abbey also produced the famous annals of Waverley, an important source for the period.

By the end of the thirteenth century the abbey was becoming less important. By the time it was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1536 as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries there were only thirteen monks in the community and the abbey had an annual net income of £174.

There is now nothing more remaining of Waverley than a beautiful, haunting ruin, managed by English Heritage.

An odd postscript

At least two BBC TV programmes have claimed that the site of the Abbey formed part of the defences of London set up in the 1939-1945 War - called, it was said, the "GHQ line." These claims are at least partly supported by the brick gun emplacement forming one side of the car park, and the multitude of tank traps along the river bank at the back of the abbey. It was said that the large open space, formed by the curve of the river on one side and the lake on the other, was intended to be a "tank killing ground" for any German army intending to outflank London's defences. An odd thought as you walk across what is indeed one of the most tranquil sites in Surrey.