Romsey Abbey

Having devoted much of our 2019 UK visit to parish churches on the east side of the island, we thought we'd take in a few on this garden-tour visit too. Romsey Abbey is just a few miles from Hillier Gardens, and it is highly rated as parish churches go. It was a Benedictine nunnery for several hundred years until the town bought it outright from Henry VIII in the Dissolution--similar to Tewkesbury further west and north--and others. Thus a large old abbey church became a large old parish church. 

But there's more. According to Wikipedia,

"Despite the faithful service in prayer of many of the nuns over many centuries, there are scattered traces of irregularities in the conduct of the house, of which the evidence would merit impartial investigation with modern historiographical methods, rather than stale prejudice. Some sources accuse the abbess Elizabeth Broke (1472-1502) of ruling over a period of scandal, including allowing poor dress standards for nuns, allowing nuns to go to the towns taverns, poor account keeping and an unhealthy relationship with the Chaplain."

So what's wrong with a little stale prejudice? I ask. In any case, for further light on the matter watch  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwOslM8JN0I&ab_channel=Duke, and you'll see more of why Romsey Abbey appealed. 

We'll get to the sculptural program in the next post

Elevation: notice the first pier is rounded and definitely on the
Romanesque side; the next three bays' arches are Romanesque; 
the rest Gothic...it takes time to build an abbey, and fashions
change...

"Welcome, gentle sir knight1"

Foundation of the preceding Saxon church

Program for the Tudor painting below

Lower left, depicting Elizabeth Ryprose, the last Abbess at Romsey

Chancel lancet windows

Some of the original paint in one of the transepts

Looking astern, from abaft the beam

Among the more colorful memorials in the church,
mid-17th

"Lord Louis," as he was called by those beneath him...member of

the royal family, among Allied leaders in WWII certainly the most

dashing, presided over India's independence, rose to even greater heights

in the armed services in the 50s; assassinated by the IRA in 1979 

Romsey's deed of sale for the abbey from Henry VIII

Moving outside and some of the sculptural program
we'll get to in the next post

Street scene in beautiful Romsey

Two building in age comparable with the abbey

"Fred and Erma" style, as Vicki calls it

Sir Harold Hillier Gardens

Not many miles from Exbury is another large and famous garden, the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens, near Romsey. Hillier, a horticulturalist and nurseryman, gave the gardens to Hampshire County many years ago. Googling "Hillier garden" is an interesting exercise: what comes up mostly are the Hillier Garden Centres, seemingly hundreds of them across the island. If Britain is a nation of gardeners, Hillier and his business are probably one of the main reasons. He was accorded many honors and was even knighted for his contributions to horticulture. The Hillier Gardens seemed to us somewhat smaller and certainly newer than Exbury, but also more devoted to displaying the great variety of plants that are tenable in the UK. As one might expect of a nurseryman, Hillier Gardens was certainly the best-labeled of any garden we can remember, including even some of the great botanical gardens.

Part of a high school class's gift...a wisteria arch
when it's done

Great signage, not only identifying the plants but also offering
tips on growing them...as one might expect

Early in our visit we headed over to the rhododendron/camellia/
magnolia forest across the road

Magnolia bloom

X-wing fighter

But mostly rhododendrons

Not all the camellias gone

Unfound Easter egg under a Buckeye tree; I was hoping for a
sugar hit, but the bugs had gotten into it already

Sir Harold

Giant rhubarb

Swamp cypress liking the bog garden

Very large eucalyptus; among the many tree
specimens

 

Exbury, 2

 More rhododendrons...

Exbury does have some other plants...great pines,
many oaks, plane trees, redwoods, lime, magnolias, and
floral plantings all over...above are the monkey puzzle
trees...but in the spring, it is the rhododendrons that
catch and command your eye

We also like camellias, although by mid-May they're largely
spent here

A contorted old oriental plane tree...the mother tree on the left,
a huge off-shoot on the right

And on the left, a third off-shoot

If you like gardens and come to the UK, this is the one you
have to see...near Southampton...in May