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DOUAI ABBEY, WOOLHAMPTON, ENGLAND   July 7-17, 2015     Abbey Church of St. Edmund, Douai

DOUAI Abbey in Woolhampton, England, was founded in Paris in 1615 and transferred to Douai in Flanders following the French Revolution.  The monks returned to England in 1903 and maintained a school until 1999.  The monastery runs a guesthouse and provides pastoral care in several parishes.  They recently built a modern library which houses both the monastery collections and the archives of several religious orders.

 abbey church

ABBEY CHURCH (East End and Transept)

 

THE transept and east end of the abbey church are in brick with an interior facing of honey-colored bath stone.  The nave was added in the 1990s in a more contemporary style that seeks to harmonize the different architectural styles found at the abbey.

 

ABBEY CHURCH (from new West End to Original East End)

 

ABBEY CHURCH: EAST END (from the nave)	ABBEY CHURCH: TRANSEPT and CHOIR ORGANS

 

 

ABBEY CHURCH:  TRANSEPT ORGAN and  CHOIR	ABBEY CHURCH: CHOIR

ABBEY CHURCH: TRANSEPT ORGAN,  ALTAR and NAVE	ABBEY CHURCH: BLESSED SACRAMENT CHAPEL

ABBEY CHURCH: BLESSED SACRAMENT CHAPEL	ABBEY CHURCH: ALTAR and NAVE

 Monastery

REFECTORY GARDEN	MONASTIC REFECTORY

 

 

CEMETERY and MONKS' CELLS	MONASTERY CLOISTER

 

 Library

THE Douai Abbey library was hosting an exhibition of 17th century vestments during my visit.  These vestments were made by Helen Wintour, who died in 1670.  Her family were recusants, that is, practicing Catholics who lived during a period when practicing the Catholic faith in England was considered treason and merited the death penalty.  Her father had been executed for assisting priests, and Helen dedicated her life to making mass vestments.

LIBRARY ENTRANCE	LIBRARY: READING ROOM

 

 

LIBRARY: READING ROOM	LIBRARY: VESTMENT EXHIBIT

 

 

LIBRARY: VESTMENT EXHIBIT	LIBRARY: STACKS