Wherwell Abbey

Has been described as a Questionable Fortified Ecclesiastical site, and also as a Questionable Uncertain

There are no visible remains

NameWherwell Abbey
Alternative NamesWherwell Priory; Werwellam; Warewella
Historic CountryHampshire and the Isle of Wight
Modern AuthorityHampshire
1974 AuthorityHampshire
Civil ParishWherwell

Site of a Benedictine nunnery, founded circa 986 and dissolved in 1539, and the probable site of a Saxon minster. None of the buildings associated with the Abbey survive, the site is occupied by 'The Priory', an early-mid 18th century country house. (PastScape)

Provisum est igitur, et communi consilio provisè, ut sibi videbatur, statutum, quantinus penes abbatiam Werwellensem, quae a Ventâ civitate VI. miliariis distabat, trecentis ibi destinatis militibus, castellum construerent, ut scilicet inde et regales faciliùs arcerentur, et ciborum subsidia competentiùs in urbem dirigerentur. Sed regales consultum hujusmodi in malum suum machinatum advertentes, subitò, et insperatè, cum intolerabili multitudine Werwellam advenerunt, fortiterque in eos undique irruentes, captis, et interemptis plurimis, cedere tandem reliquos, et in templum se recipere compulerunt. Cumque vice castelli ad se defendendos templo uterentur, alii, facibus undique injectis semiustulatos eos e templo prodire, et ad votum suum se sibi subdere coegerunt. Erat quidem horrendum, et miserabile videre, quàm impiè, quàm truculenter in templo, pietatis videlicet, et orationis domo, armatorum cunei grassbantur; maximè quia, hic, alterutrim caedes committebantur, illic, captivi loris vinculati abstrahebantur;– hinc incendium templi, et domorum fastigia horribiliter depascebat, indè virginum Deo sacratarum, quae igne urgente suis de claustris invitae prodierant, clamor, et ejulatus altè resonabat. (Sewell - Gesta Stephani)

An attempt to fortify the Benedictine Nunnery in 1140 was prevented. (Renn)

Gatehouse Comments

There are some elements of clerical censor in the Gesta Stephani but there is no reason to discount the basic details in the account. Wherwell was a crossing point of the River Test, which was probably more of a barrier before modern drainage turned riverside marsh into meadow and a fort here would improve the security of the royal city of Winchester. The value of the abbey would have been as a place with buildings able to house 300 soldiers and their equipment in relative warmth and dryness rather than as a defensive structure (although the abbey buildings were probably naturally defended by the branches of the Test). Burning the buildings would have much reduced this strategic value.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

This is a Grade 2* listed building protected by law

Historic England Scheduled Monument Number
Historic England Listed Building number(s)
Images Of England
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSU391407
Latitude51.1646881103516
Longitude-1.441890001297
Eastings439120
Northings140750
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • Osborne, Mike, 2011, Defending Hampshire: The Military Landscape from Prehistory to the Present (Stroud: The History Press) p. 243 (listed in Appendix)
  • Barron, W.G., 1985, The Castles of Hampshire and Isle of Wight (Paul Cave) p. 51
  • Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 344
  • Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longmans)
  • Doubleday, H. Arthur, 1903, VCH Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Vol. 2 p. 132-7 online transcription

Primary Sources

  • Sewell, R.C. (ed), 1846, Gesta Stephani, Regis Anglorum et Ducis Normannorum p. 83 online copy (The newer edition and translation by Potter, K.R. (ed), 1976 (2edn), Gesta Stephani (Oxford University Press) p. 130-2 should be consulted for serious study. See also Speight, S., 2000, 'Castle Warfare in the Gesta Stephani' , Château Gaillard Vol. 19 [see online transcription > http://web.archive.org/web/20101229213751/http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/speight.htm])
  • Hardy, D.H., (ed), 1840, Willelmi Malmesbriensis monachi gestis regum Anglorum atque Historiae novella (London) p. 752 online copy