Mount St. Bernard Abbey

Mount St. Bernard Abbey

Exterior of the Abbey

This collection of buildings are built in beautiful rolling countryside. However this was not the original choice for the siting of the monastery. Ambrose Phillips from Garrendon and later Grace Dieu Manor gave the land for the monastery and William Railton designed the first church and house, 1835 to 1837. In 1839 The Earl of Shrewsbury visited the monks and was so impressed by them that he gave them two thousand pounds and asked them to agree to move the monastery to a more romantic site and allow Pugin to be the architect. Which is where you see it today.

Interior of the Abbey

Sadly Pugin's original layout inside the abbey can not be seen, due as we have seen in other places their removal. A magnificent rood screen, huge hanging cross, altarpiece as you can see on the left, gone. What is left are the bare bones which as you can see on the right are eyecatching and austere.
Many famous people have visited and been greatly impressed by what they have seen, including William Wordsworth, Florence Nightingale and Edward Burne-Jones.

The surrounding buildings

These buildings consisted of living quarters for the Cistercian monks, an infirmary (on the left). A kitchen, a lodge for strangers to stay in, and an internal cloister. All these buildings are in use today. There was one area for the relief of the poor which was put to the test when in 1840 many Irish fled the potatoe famine and arrived at Mount St. Bernard. The place did not become an Abbey until 1848, Dom Palmer was the first Abbott and Pugin designed his mitre.

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Interior of the Abbey
	Sadly Pugin's original layout inside the abbey can not be seen, due as we have seen in other places their removal. A magnificent rood screen, huge hanging cross, altarpiece as you can see on the left, gone. What is left are the bare bones which as you can see on the right are eyecatching and austere. Many famous people have visited and been greatly impressed by what they have seen, including William Wordsworth, Florence Nightingale and Edward Burne-Jones.

The surrounding buildings
	These buildings consisted of living quarters for the Cistercian monks, an infirmary (on the left). A kitchen, a lodge for strangers to stay in, and an internal cloister. All these buildings are in use today. There was one area for the relief of the poor which was put to the test when in 1840 many Irish fled the potatoe famine and arrived at Mount St. Bernard. The place did not become an Abbey until 1848, Dom Palmer was the first Abbott and Pugin designed his mitre.