Rediscovering our Catholic heritage (part 1)

A few weeks back my mum shared with me a treasure that she’d picked up many years ago in a charity shop and that had been tucked away in a quiet corner of the house ever since as she’d never really had anyone to share it with. It’s quite a special item, something I’d never seen or even heard of before; an ordnance survey map of monastic Britain. (!!!!)

As you can see it’s a real find! The monastic houses listed are based upon records from the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. It is not definitive, obviously, but it is very well done. Some of the abbeys and convents listed are still in ruins up and down the country, of others there remains little or no trace.

Yesterday afternoon we decided to go and take a look at one of the names on this very enticing map and see what was left. Our destination was the ruins of Boxgrove Priory, between Arundel and Chichester.

The Abbey was founded in the first half of the 12th century by the Benedictine community of Lessay Abbey in Normandy and by a Norman noble, Richard de Haia. The Priory was a modest one, with a small community of monks that were originally still under the rule of their mother house in France but became independent under the reign of Edward III. Sadly it was dissolved by Henry VIII and now very little of the original priory remains.

Along with these small ruins there is still the old Abbey church, much smaller now (the old quire has long been lost) but still used as the parish church for the town. From what we found on the inside we reckoned it must have been High Church C of E.

As you can see it was a gem of a Church, just a shame it isn’t Catholic any more!! Both Mum and I prayed that one day it can be restored to its proper use, as well as for the repose of the souls of the monks and all the other people buried in the cemetery.

Later on, after a picnic lunch by the sea at Bosham, we stopped at the little church at Hardham, dedicated to St. Botolph (an ancient English abbot +680AD). I had wanted to visit this particular church for sometime as inside there are frescos dating back to the 12th century. It was amazing to see how beautifully decorated it used to be. Even though the paintings are very faded you can still make some of them out.

These were only little snippets of our local Catholic history but they were certainly worth the effort to go out and see. Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be able to get out and see more.