Public Places Hailes Abbey
Hailes Abbey is two miles northeast of Winchcombe in Gloucestershire.
The abbey was founded in 1246 by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, the younger brother of King Henry III (1207-1272). It was settled by Cistercian monks (known as ‘White Monks’ from the colour of their habit) from Beaulieu Abbey in Hampshire.
Hailes Abbey became a site of pilgrimage when Richard’s son, Edmund, donated to the Cistercian community a phial of Holy Blood, purchased in Germany, in 1270 and allegedly the blood of Christ. Such a relic of the Crucifixion was a considerable magnet for pilgrimage, and the shrine built for the ‘Holy Blood of Hailes’ was probably the most famous pilgrimage site in England after the tomb of Saint Thomas à Becket in Canterbury. From the proceeds, the monks of Hailes were able to rebuild the abbey on a magnificent scale.
During the Dissolution, the commissioners of King Henry VIII declared the famous relic to be nothing but the blood of a duck, regularly renewed, and the last Abbot, Stephen Sagar, admitted that the Holy Blood was a fake in the hope of saving the abbey.
Cutting turf from an adjacent field
below no protection from thermal changes, so frost could penetrate from the top as well as both sides of a wall
- Hard caps held the historic fabric below in a tight grip, and expanded and contracted at a different rate to the historic stone below and, in some cases, shattered the stone
- Hard caps shed water directly down the face of the wall, in the same direction, every time it rains. Not only does this increase the potential for damage by the problem cycles, but led to a clearly defined growth of algae within the stone surface in certain areas of the wall which are repeatedly wetted and which appear, even on dry days, like a stain on the wall
Because of these growing concerns, English Heritage commissioned Professor Heather Viles and her team at Oxford University to look into the possibility that soft capping - the use of soil covered in grass and other herbs - on wall tops could be beneficial.
However, Hailes Abbey became one of the last religious institutions to be closed following the Dissolution Act of 1536. The Abbot and his monks finally surrendered their abbey to King Henry’s commissioners on Christmas Eve 1539.
Soon after the Dissolution, Hailes Abbey was granted to Katherine Parr (sixth wife of Henry VIII), and subsequently passed through a succession of family connections. It was during this time that the abbey church was demolished 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.
Holy Blood
Hailes was not the only establishment with a claim to have ‘holy blood’, although it is generally the most well known. During the medieval period, it was generally accepted that the blood at Hailes and these other sites was genuine.
Other establishments with claims include Westminster, Ashridge and Glastonbury. The various histories of these rival claims are superbly documented in The Holy Blood - King Henry III and the Westminster Blood Relic by Nicholas Vincent.
Laying the turf 108 PC APRIL/MAY 2013
They have clearly shown, by both laboratory experiment and field testing that soft capping;
- Acts like a ‘thermal blanket’ on the wall top, moderating both the upper and lower limits of air temperature changes. This prevents damage from frost, but also reduces the amount of thermal movement below a soft cap - both of a hard cap and/or historic fabric
- Sheds water in different directions each time it rains and, where the soft cap is well established, the longer grass stems often act like an overhang, directing water away from the wall face
- Appears to stabilise water movement within the core of the wall - although this is much less clear because of the
Barrowing the turf onto the site
problems of monitoring water movement within walls
Soft capping clearly offers protection to exposed stonework, it does no harm to the historic fabric and could be easily removed in the future, if necessary. English Heritage believe that this option is a good way of protecting ruins from environmental damage. Trials have been carried out on small
areas of wall tops in various locations throughout the country but, because it is a major change in the presentation of monuments to the public we have decided to completely soft cap an entire site whilst, over the next two years, monitoring the response from visitors. Hailes Abbey was chosen for this trial because it is located in a frost pocket and has suffered increasing and serious damage to the stonework over the last few years.
Technical notes
The soft capping being installed is turf cut from an adjacent field, which is then laid over a medium loam soil to create a soft cap approximately 100mm thick. Wherever possible, local turf has been used for the following reasons;
- It contains a wide range of grasses and herbs which grow naturally in that area. The exposed position and limited rootzone make soft caps a very stressed environment, which some grasses/herbs can survive and others cannot. Using a turf with a wide mix helps to ensure some will thrive
- The turf can be cut thicker than is usual for commercial turf (virtually no transport costs to worry about) and this helps aid establishment, particularly on higher wall tops where any sort of aftercare is impossible once the
Scaffolding is required to reach the top of the walls
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156