File:The greater abbeys of England (1908) (14750263136).jpg

Identifier: greaterabbeysofe00gasq (find matches)
Title: The greater abbeys of England
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Gasquet, Francis Aidan, Cardinal, 1846-1929
Subjects: Abbeys -- England England -- Description and travel
Publisher: London : Chatto & Windus
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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st a suburb nowof the ever-growing port of Southampton. The shipsthat are perpetually passing down the water on their wayto every part of the world, or are returning up it bearingthe peoples and produ6ls of lands unheard of and un-dreamt of when Netley was at its prime, pass and repassthis silent and ivy-grown memorial of a life, strangeperhaps now, but which was very real indeed somecenturies ago, when the great busy port of to-day wasyet a small and unimportant harbour. Netley, otherwise called Lettley, Edwardstow orLaetus locus—happy place—was the home of Cister-cian monks. It was a house of royal foundation, forHenry III established it in 1232 in honour of St Maryand St Edward. The first monks came from Beaulieu,the Cistercian Abbey over the water in the New Forest,which, although it had been established so short a time,had yet increased already in numbers so much as to beable to send out a colony of brethren to Henrys newfoundation. Netley was never, apparently, very pro- 144
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Netleysperous, so far as worldly wealth goes, and according tothe taxation of Pope Nicholas the total amount of itstemporalities was only ^17. Although it subsequentlyreceived some further endowment from Edmund Earlof Cornwall at the time of the Dissolution in 1536, itsclear income only amounted to >Cioo 12s. 8d. Netley, consequently, was in no sense an importantmonastery, and little or nothing is really known of itsstory, which was evidently the usual history of an obser-vant house, in which its members, apparently never morenumerous than twelve, devoted themselves to the dutiesof their state. Indeed, in one way this secluded spot hasattra6led probably more notice in late years than it didin the days of its prosperity. The very picturesquenessof the situation, the attractive beauty of the ruins withtheir setting of green trees and shrubs has caused it tobe considered one of the typical ruined abbeys of Eng-land, and has attracted to it crowds of visitors from allparts of the world

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