Monastery Buildings Of Benedictine Abbey Of St Michael And All Angels

Monastery Buildings of Benedictine Abbey of St Michael and All Angels

A range of monastery buildings designed and built by Edward Welby Pugin and Peter Paul Pugin between 1857 and 1904, with later 20th-century additions and alterations.

The buildings are constructed of coursed rubble with ashlar dressings and red brick, covered with plain tiles. They are predominantly two storeys with an attic. The principal range is E-shaped on its west front and has two additional wings projecting from its eastern side.

The west front faces out over the enclosed abbey gardens. A projecting plinth and moulded band at first-floor window-sill level run across the elevation, with a Mansard roof above the central spine range. At the southern end stands the Abbot's house, which projects forward with two gabled wings flanking a central porch door. Ground-floor windows have a central mullion and sashed lights; first-floor windows are sashes with prominent hood moulds, and small paired lancets light the attic windows in the gables. Between the gabled wings, the lean-to roof above the entrance porch dies back to recessed walling containing a large staircase window with mullion and transoms and a traceried head. At the north end is a similar projecting gabled wing with mullioned ground-floor windows and paired lancets to the first floor. The seven central bays have sash windows with hood moulds at first-floor level and gabled dormer windows with two casement lights to the attic. At ground floor, a lean-to porch and door sits to the left, with four windows lighting the internal cloister corridor, each having three lancet lights with mullions and a transom. A ventilation turret in the form of a spirelet crowns the ridge at right of centre, with a square lower body and swept eaves. The sacristy extension of circa 1928, recessed to the left, has a hipped roof and four windows, each with two cusped lights and a trefoil to the apex.

The north flank has five bays to the right, with a later lean-to masking the ground floor but revealing sash windows with hood moulds and gabled dormers above, matching the west front. To the left is the addition by Peter Paul Pugin, consisting of five bays with ribbon windows to the ground floor and first-floor casements of three mullioned lights each.

The east face shows the rear of the Abbot's house at far left, with two gables as on the west side, but between them a third gable containing a traceried window at attic level marking the infirmary chapel of St Raphael, surmounted by a stone cross. To the right is the projecting wing housing the refectory and library at its western end and the later school hall at its eastern end, with a canted bay window at its eastern gable. The flanks have later 20th-century additions to the south and gabled dormers lighting the library. The school extension has ashlar-framed casement lights. A single-storey range, recessed to the right, forms a screen masking an internal courtyard, with an angled doorway at left in the re-entrant angle with the school wing and a gate to the courtyard at right. South of the main range is a single-storey block of former service buildings, one converted to form a chapel for retreat visitors.

Internally, at ground-floor level the principal rooms are approached from the middle sacristy, aligned with the south porch of the abbey church and featuring a vaulted ceiling with closely arranged cross ribs. This connects via a dog-leg at its south end to the cloister, which takes the form of a corridor along the west side of the building and has a tiled floor, panelled ceiling and wooden window seats. The refectory rises through two storeys and has wood panelling to the lower walls and a panelled ceiling with arched braces springing from stone corbels. Windows on the south side extend further down the wall than those on the north. The east end wall features three recessed arched panels and the west wall has a central door with traceried fanlight. The front sacristy of circa 1904 has a panelled ceiling with arched braces to the pitched sides and corners, and a flat centre. The calefactory, accessible from the cloister, has three shuttered windows looking east, a cornice and panelling below the dado, though its original fire surround has been replaced. The Abbot's parlour also has dado and cornice and a later Neo-Georgian fire surround.

Individual cells on the upper floors are approached from broad central corridors. At the top of the Abbot's House is the former infirmary with the Chapel of St Raphael, also used by novice members of the community. The chapel has a boarded ceiling with exposed common rafters with ties, all chamfered, and a ceilure to the east end. Prints showing the stations of the cross are mounted in a continuous frame running along the side walls. The traceried east window contains stained glass panels depicting scenes from the life of the saint.