Chapter 12

The history of the Abbey of Flaxley, or St. Mary de Dene--Its foundation by Roger Earl of Hereford in 1140--Confirmed and enriched by Henry II. and III., and Richard II.--Suppressed in 1541--Existing remains--St. Anthony's Well--The Abbey, &c., granted to Sir W. Kingston--His descendants--Mrs. C. Riches (Boevey), supposed to be Sir R. de Coverley's "perverse widow;" her benevolent life, and death in 1726--Nature and cessation of the Flaxley iron-works--Erection of the present church in 1856.

The link which connects the Abbey of Flaxley with the Forest of Dean is chiefly of an antiquarian nature; for instead of being included as formerly within the limits of the Forest, it is merely approached on one side by a promontory of Crown land, called "Pope's Hill." The incident which led to the foundation of the abbey, as related by Leland, who visited it a short time before it was suppressed, shows the Forest character of its precincts. He tells us--"ther was a brother of Rogerus Earl of Hereforde that was kylled wythe an arowe in huntinge in the very place where the abbay syns was made. There was a table of the matter hanggid up in the abbay church." The date of its institution is assigned to the year 1140, or the reign of Stephen, its chief founder being the aforesaid Roger, aided by a Bishop of Hereford "that holped much to the buildinge," and who was probably Robert de Betune, by whom the north-west transept of that cathedral is said to have been erected. They designated it "the Abbey of St. Mary de Dene, or Dene Abbey," and devoted it to the use of the White Monks of the Cistertian order. Tintern, the other abbey of that order, established near the western border of the Forest, was founded nine years before. The dress of the monks was a white cassock, with a narrow scapulary; and from this doubtless comes the name of "St. White's," on Little Dean Hill, in the parish of Flaxley, as well as of another spot called Whitecross.

The institution of the abbey was confirmed, and its endowment augmented, by two charters, granted by Henry II., to the following purport:--"Know ye that I have granted and confirmed to God and St. Mary, and to the monks of the Cistertian order, a certain place in the valley of Castiard called Flaxley, to build an abbey there; and all that land called Wastdean, and one iron forge free and quit, and with as free liberty to work as any of my forges in demesne; and all the land under the Old Castle of Dene, with liberty to plough it up, to wit 100 acres, which remains to be assarted, and that which is already assarted; and a certain fishery at Redley called Newerre, and a meadow of Reidley called Pulmeade, containing four acres; and all easements in the Forest of Dean, to wit, common of pasture for their young cattle and hogs and for all other beasts, and wood and timber to repair their houses and buildings, and for other necessaries, without committing waste in the Forest; and I have given them tithes of chesnuts out of the same Forest, and all my demesnes at Dymmock; and five yard lands and a half, besides the demesnes and half my wood at Dymmock, and half my nets which I have in my hands, for the conveniences of my men, because I would have my monks enjoy that part of the wood peaceably and quietly, without any interfering with any other persons; and I straightly command that no person offer to disturb them upon this account; and the lands belonging to Walfric; but so that if Uhred the clerk continues in the abbey with the lands he exchanged, to wit, two yard lands, that then he shall give no account of it to any body but the abbot; and all the land of Jeoffry, son of the aforesaid Walfric, which the Earl of Hereford did release, and all the land which Leffric de Staura gave to them in alms, and the farm which I gave them at Wallemere, out of my new ploughed ground containing 200 acres with the meadows and pastures, and all other easements; and four acres of Northwood. I further give to them my new ploughed grounds under Castiard, called Vincent Lands;" added to which, there was a grant of two oaks out of the Forest every seven days, for supplying their iron-forge with fuel.

Few of the properties here named can now be traced. Castiard is unknown, but perhaps the "old Castle of Dene" is identical with a circular ditch and bank, about fifty yards in diameter, on Camp Hill, between Flaxley and Little Dean. It may also be observed that the present Chesnuts Enclosure is probably the site of the chesnut groves referred to in the above grants. A century later (42 Henry III.) the two oaks weekly were commuted for a tract of woodland in the Forest, containing 872 acres, reserving, however, the herbage for the King's deer and wild beasts, and all mines and quarries, and a power to the grantee to enclose one-tenth part thereof, and to hold the same enclosed against all animals except the King's deer and wild beasts, leaving nine tenth parts always open; all which peculiarities of tenure are connected with a tract of land yet identified by the name of "the Abbot's Woods." Between the years 1206 and 1215 King John paid several visits to Flaxley. In the terms of a Papal taxation levied in 1291 by Pope Nicholas, the property of this abbey was thus valued:--

pounds _s._ _d._ In the diocese 14 0 1 of Hereford, at ,, Bath and 11 0 0 Wells ,, Worcester 7 5 0 -- - - Total 32 5 1

Ere long it acquired the dignity of a mitred abbey, though never of a peeral one, its abbot being summoned to Parliament 21st Edward III. During the reign of Richard II. these additional grants were made to it:--"Certain tenements in Leye, Bosteley, and Rodley; the manor and impropriate church of Flaxley; the manors of Blaisdon, Newnham, and Ruerdean; distinct manors in the parishes of Dean Parva, Dymock, and Arlingham, with a house in Abbenhall." A document in the Chapter-house at Westminster, dated 10th Edward II., has the abbot's seal attached, representing an abbot standing erect with his crosier under a canopy slightly ornamented, with the legend S . ABBATIS . DE . FLAXLE. The counter seal is a hand with a crosier, and other ornaments, viz., a fleur-de-lis, &c., surrounded by the words CONTRA SIGILLUM ABBATIS DE FLAXLE. The names and dates of the following abbots have been preserved:--

Elected. 1288 Nicholas. 1314 William de Rya. 1372 Richard Peyta. 1509 John ---. 1528 William Beawdley. 1532 Thomas Ware.

The last of these, Thomas Ware, survived the suppression of the house and the dispersion of its brethren, of whom there were nine at that time, the abbey being delivered up to the King's Commissioners in 1541, valued at 112 pounds 13s. 1d., according to Dugdale. Tintern Abbey was suppressed four years previously. Ware retired to Aston Rowant, near Thame, in Oxfordshire, where he spent the rest of his life in seclusion, and was there buried in 1546.

The vicissitudes of 300 years have left little of the original structure remaining: only in 1788 the pavement of the Chapter-house was discovered at a small depth, on the east side of the refectory, extending about 45 feet, and 24 wide. At the upper end a circular stone bench was exposed, and in the centre the carved base of a pillar. Several coffin-lids of stone were likewise found, sculptured with ornamented crosses, and upon one a hand and arm holding a crosier, under which probably one of the abbots was interred. The view of the abbey as it appeared about the year 1712, according to Sir R. Atkyns's print, exhibits traces of the ancient residence of the abbot and monks, respecting which the Rev. T. Rudge remarks--"It was low, but long in front, being 60 feet in length, 25 feet wide, and only 14 high; the whole arched with stone, and the vault intersected with plain and massy ribs, and seems to have formed the refectory. The first floor contained a long gallery, and at the south end one very spacious apartment which was supposed to have been the abbot's chief room. The dormitories or cells were connected with the great gallery."

[Picture: Stone coffin lids at Flaxley Abbey]

[Picture: The Refectory of Flaxley Abbey]

[Picture: Open Timber Roof of the Abbot's Room at Flaxley Abbey]

A further trace of the same period is also to be found at the head of one of the brooks feeding the stream which descends the Flaxley valley, called "St. Anthony's Well," and which, from its supposed medicinal properties, was until late years widely famed for curing cutaneous disorders, although under circumstances somewhat connected with the marvellous, its peculiar efficacy being combined with the rising of the sun, the month of May, and the visits to it being repeated nine times in succession. However, after due allowance for some exaggeration, there remains ample proof of the utility of its waters in removing diseases of the skin. The square basin or reservoir of stone immediately adjoining the head of the spring was made at the commencement of this century for the convenience of bathers, and occupies a very secluded position, overshadowed by a large beech-tree, and closed round with mossy banks. The water is abundant in quantity, and contains iron and lime, derived from the strata through which it percolates. The general temperature is 50 degrees.

[Picture: St. Anthony's Well]

On the suppression of the Abbey in 1541, Henry VIII. granted it to Sir William Kingston, the Constable of the Tower of London, memorable as being the person to whom the dying Wolsey confessed--"If I had served God as diligently as I have done the King, he would not have given me over in my gray hayres." Sir William dying in 1545, letters patent regranted to Anthony his son (who in consideration of his father's services was knighted on the occasion) "the site of the late Abbey, and all the church, bellhouse, and churchyard of the same, and all the houses, granges, &c., as well within as without the said site, and also all other the manors and granges of Flaxley, Howle, Goderith, Climperwell, Wolmore, Blaisdon, Aclingham, Le Rouhen, Ruardene, Newland, Dene Parva, Newnham, Pulton, and Dymock, with their rights in the county of Gloucester, and the house and manor of Rochilburgh in the county of Somerset, belonging to the same; and all advocations, presentations, &c., of the said parishes at any time appurtenant to the said monastery," subject to the yearly payment of 1 pound 8s. 2d. In the third year of Edward VI. he accompanied Lord Russell as Provost Marshal of the army sent against the Western rebels, in which capacity his great severity obtained for him the epithet from Fuller of "the terrible Provost Marshal." His name occurs on the roll of High Sheriffs for the county in the year 1549. In 1555 Queen Mary appointed him one of the commissioners to see execution done upon that excellent prelate and martyr Bishop Hooper, by whom he had been formerly admonished for gross immorality, and forced to submit and do penance, as well as pay a fine of 500 pounds.

It is not surprising to find him a vigorous opponent in parliament of the Queen's effort for restoring to the religious establishments the property of which they had been deprived. So strongly was he opposed to this, that on one occasion he seized the keys of the House from the serjeant, for which he was committed to the Tower, although upon his humble submission he was afterwards discharged. The next year he was supposed, and not without reason, to be involved in a plot to rob the Exchequer of 50,000 pounds, and therewith to raise a rebellion; but it was discovered, and all the conspirators were executed except Sir A. Kingston, who perhaps only escaped by dying on his road to London, whither he was summoned to appear before the Council. By his will, dated 27th of April, 1 Edw. VI., he entailed his several manors and estates on his sons, Anthony and Edmund. Anthony died without issue, having in 1591 leased the Grange estate to one William Brain and others of Little Dean, for 370 years, of which an annual acknowledgment of 6 pounds continues to be paid by its present holders, and Edmund succeeded to all the Kingston property. He left two sons, Anthony and George, the former of whom died in 1594, leaving by his will his sons Edmund and George joint executors and heirs. George died in the year 1647, intestate, seized of the Collect (Gawlet?) woods, in the parish of Flaxley, and was father of Anthony.

It is said by Sir R. Atkyns that there was a monument to George Kingston in the chancel of the original church of the parish, inscribed as follows:--

"Mar. 4, 1644.

"Vixi dum vellem, moriebar tempore grato Et sic vita mihi mors quoque grata fuit."

"Kings have stones on them when they die, And here Kingstone under a stone doth lie; Nor Prince, nor Peer, nor any mortal wight, Can shun Death's dart--Death still will have his right. O then bethink to what you all must trust, At last to die, and come to judgment just."

There are no traces of any such monument now, and it was therefore probably destroyed when the church was rebuilt about 1730.

The Kingstons took no part apparently in the contests which occurred in the neighbourhood between the Royalists and Parliamentarians, but confined their attention to their own affairs and the management of their iron-works. The only member of the family who suffered was a Sir Francis Crawley, who, about the year 1642-3, was deposed for a judgment in favour of the King on the question of ship-money, or something of a similar kind. The family possess one of King Charles's rings as a memento of such a decision. Edmund died in 1621, and was father of William, who, pursuant to his father Edmund's will, made a settlement between himself, William, and James Boevey on one part, and William Jones, of Nass, on the other. He left an only son, Anthony, who, having no issue, disposed of the estate to Abraham Clarke, Esq., who died here in 1683, as also his wife Joana, from whose son Abraham, dying in 1682, it passed, in virtue of certain complex devises, to a near relative, William Boevey, Esq. Mr. Boevey married Catharina (in her sixteenth year), daughter of John Riches, Esq., an affluent London merchant. She was left at the age of twenty-two a widow, which she inexorably remained until her death, on the 3rd January, 1726, in her fifty-seventh year, leaving a name for benevolence and ability which the neighbourhood venerates to this day. Dr. Geo. Hickes calls her, in the preface to his 'Thesaurus,' published in 1702-3, "praestantissima et honestissima matrona Catharine Bovey," and was most probably one of her personal friends, agreeably to a traditionary account in the family, that "she was very friendly to the nonjuring clergy, and that she had frequently received and protected them."

There are several pictures of clergymen at Flaxley, which have always been believed to be portraits of Mrs. Boevey's nonjuring friends. Amongst these are two in episcopal habits, one of which is ascertained to be the portrait of the deprived Dr. Frampton, Bishop of Gloucester, since an exactly similar painting exists in the Palace at Gloucester. Flaxley is mentioned as her residence by Sir R. Atkyns in 1712, where, he tells us, "she hath an handsome house and pleasant gardens, and a great estate, a furnace for casting of iron, and three forges," as also appears by Kip's view of it. In 1714 Steele dedicated to her the second volume of 'The Ladies' Library,' the frontispiece to which Mr. Kerslake describes as "representing a young lady, dressed in widow's weeds, opening a book upon a table, on which also lies a skull; her admirers, in long wigs and swords, are thronging round the door." In one of his letters to Lady Steele, dated the 17th January, 1717, he writes--"I have yours in a leaf of the widow's." Such incidents seem to prove that this highly-gifted lady was the original of the character so graphically delineated by Steele in his description of "the perverse widow." The numbers of the 'Spectator' in which she is introduced generally bear his name, and she probably was more intimate with him than with Addison (although both are said to have visited the Abbey), since he would naturally pass near Flaxley whenever he travelled between London and his house at Llangunnor, near Caermarthen. Nothing less than such a familiar acquaintance could have enabled him to give so exact and real a description of her as occurs in No. 113.

In Ballard's 'Ladies,' first printed in 1752, and on her monument in Westminster Abbey and in Flaxley Church, her more public virtues are displayed; but the value of her home life, which many of the poor Foresters had experienced in her bounties, is best related in the words of her faithful attendant, Mrs. Rachel Vergo, "who always waited particularly on her mistress, and was the only servant who sat up, as she spent an hour or two every night in her closet. She did the same in the morning, and was a very early riser. Mrs. Vergo had the care of the family under Mrs. Mary Pope, a relation of Mrs. Bovey, who came for a visit of a month, and stayed nearly forty years. The regularity and economy in the family was great. The maids were kept to work till eight o'clock at night, and the rest was their own time. Mrs. Bovey frequently called for her charity account book to see if it kept pace with her expenses in dress, which was always very handsome. Mrs. Vergo was often sent to Ross and Mitcheldean to buy materials to make garments for the poor. The old table-linen and sheets were made into childbed linen, which, together with shirts and shifts of all sizes, were kept in a closet. It was Mrs. Vergo's business to give them out as her lady ordered. Two ladies came to visit Mrs. Pope at the time the epidemic fever raged in Gloucestershire in 1719. One of them, Mrs. Cowling, died of it at the Abbey. The other, Mrs. Grace Butler, agreed with Mrs. Bovey and Mrs. Pope all to lie in the same vault with the deceased. The vault was built accordingly in Flaxley churchyard. Mrs. Bovey died first at the Abbey, and was laid by her friend. Mrs. Pope was brought from Twickenham in Surrey, and Mrs. Grace Butler twenty years afterwards from Worminghurst in Sussex. Every afternoon during her lady's life Mrs. Vergo was ordered to wear a silk gown. Six of the poor children who were kept at school at Flaxley dined by turns regularly every Sunday at the Abbey, when Mrs. Bovey heard them say their Catechism. She was very often in the habit of lending money to poor clergymen, which was frequently repaid to her in small sums, but more often given to them. She did the same, too, by other distressed people whom she believed to be honest and industrious. During the Christmas holidays before Mrs. Bovey died she had the thirty children who were taught at her expense, to dine at the Abbey upon beef and pudding. Mrs. Vergo sat at the head of the table, and two of the housemaids waited upon them. After dinner Mrs. Bovey had them all into the parlour, where she was sitting dressed in white and silver. She showed them her clothes and her jewels, talked pleasantly and with great good nature to them, and having given to each of them sixpence she dismissed them. When they left her they had a harp and fiddle playing in the great hall, where they danced two hours and went away in good time. When Mrs. Bovey was dressing before dinner she said to Mrs. Vergo, 'Rachel, you will be surprised that I put such fine clothes on to-day; but I think that these poor children will remember me the longer for it.' She was then to all appearance very well, but she died that very day month of a bowel complaint."--"Upon Wednesday morning," wrote Mr. MacBarrow, "she was as well at breakfast as usual; between eleven and twelve she was seized with a most violent colic. We sent to Gloucester for Greville, as the nearest at hand; that night for Lane, but he was not to be met with. The extremity of pain continued, and, notwithstanding all means that could be used, nothing would pass. She apprehended death approaching the first day, and said what her illness was: we sent to Oxford and Hereford, but no physician until it was too late. Upon Friday morning she had a little ease, which gave us great hopes; but very soon the exquisite pain returned, and never left her until death had performed its great office, betwixt eleven and twelve on Saturday morning. She was sensible all along, and expressed great satisfaction in being here, where she said she always wished to die. She was buried in the same vault with Mrs. Cowling on 23rd January, 1726."--"Of her personal beauty," observes the Rev. C. Crawley, "although highly extolled, it really appears that very little can be said or seen, if we may form our opinions from the three portraits of her at Flaxley Abbey. They all represent a broad surface of a benevolent and good-natured countenance; and though they were evidently painted at different periods of her life, yet they bear so great a resemblance to each other that we may reasonably infer they were all good likenesses--in each of them the mole on the cheek has been defined with all due minuteness."

Mrs. Boevey bequeathed 1200 pounds to augment the living of Flaxley, the interest of 400 pounds to apprentice poor children, and a similar sum towards putting them out. Lastly she designed the rebuilding of the church, "which pious design was speedily executed by Mrs. Mary Pope." This work was effected about the year 1730, but report says _not_ "speedily," as the parishioners found it necessary to institute a suit in Chancery to secure its accomplishment. The site of the old chapel was retained, only the size was increased, if we may judge from the view that Sir R. Atkyns gives of the former building, which he says was "very small, and had a low wooden tower at the west end." Most of the old monuments were transferred to it, and the new church, although rather plain, was "peculiarly neat" and substantial. Upon Mrs. Boevey's death the estate passed by will to Thomas Crawley, Esq., of London, merchant, in tail male, upon the condition of adding the name of Boevey to Crawley. Thomas, a lineal descendant, succeeded to the baronetage on the death of Sir Charles Barrow in January, 1789, by limitation of the patent. {189} Part of the mansion having been destroyed by fire, it was rebuilt by him in 1777, with extensive additions. This house yet remains, and is a capacious structure.

[Picture: The original Chapel at Flaxley, as it appeared in 1712]

"The iron manufactory," writes Rev. T. Rudge, at the beginning of this century, "is still carried on, and the metal is esteemed peculiarly good; but its goodness does not arise from any extraordinary qualities in the ore, but from the practice of working the furnace and forges with charcoal wood, without any mixture of pit coal. The quantity of charcoal required is so considerable, that the furnace cannot be kept in blow or working more than nine months successively, the wheels which work the bellows and hammers being turned by a powerful stream of water. At this time (Oct. 28, 1802) a cessation has taken place for nearly a year. Lancashire ore, which is brought to Newnham by sea, furnishes the principal supply; the mine found in the Forest being either too scanty to answer the expense of raising it, or when raised too difficult of fusion, and consequently too consumptive of fuel, to allow the common use of it." Since then so great a change has been effected in the mode of reducing the ore, that several tons of the Lancashire mine yet remain unused near the spot where the Flaxley furnace stood, the Forest ore readily yielding to the treatment it now receives in the blast furnaces of the district. "When the furnace is at work, about twenty tons a week are reduced to pig iron; in this state it is carried to the forges, where about eight tons a week are hammered out into bars, ploughshares, &c., ready for the smith." The aged people of the neighbourhood well remember when the Flaxley furnaces were in blast, and tell of the ancient cinders and pickings of the old mine-holes being taken down to them. With their disuse the former mode of manufacturing iron ceased in the district. The furnace buildings have been long removed, and the pools drained in which the water accumulated for driving the machinery.

[Picture: Flaxley Church, and Abbey in the distance]

Thus the "Castiard Vale" is once more devoted wholly to the picturesque, with the most pleasing effect, its beauty being yet further enhanced by a well-placed and exquisitely designed church, erected a few yards to the west of the one built by Mrs. Pope, after the designs of G. G. Scott, Esq., in the Early Decorated style of pointed architecture. {191} It comprises a richly ornamented chancel, nave, and north aisle, and a tower surmounted with a broach spire. There is churchroom for about 300 of the poor Foresters dwelling on Pope's Hill, as well as for the inhabitants of the parish. It was consecrated on the 18th of September, 1856, by Dr. Baring, Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, who preached on the occasion from Eccl. v. 1, most of the surrounding gentry attending, and fifty of the clergy. The present school-room was built in 1840, and accommodates sixty scholars.