Prinknash Abbey

History

A Roman Catholic monastery, Prinknash Abbey is located in the Vale of Gloucester near the village of Cranham in the Diocese of Clifton. Belonging to the English Province of the Subiaco Cassinese Benedictine Congregation, which is also part of the worldwide Benedictine Confederation.

For 900 years the land has been associated with the Benedictine monks. Serlo, Abbot of St. Peter's, Gloucester, was gifted the land in 1096 by the Gifford family. In the abbacy of William Parker, the last Abbot of Gloucester, around 1520 a large part of the present building was built.

In 1928 a Deed of Covenant was made out by the twentieth Earl of Rothes wh believed that Prinknash should be given to the Benedictine monks of Caldey Island. Today there are currently 12 monks living at Prinknash. The monks moved into the new abbey in 1972 and the old abbey was re-roofed, re-furnished, and converted into a retreat and conference centre, known as 'St Peter's Grange'. In 2008, on the feast day of Ss Peter and Paul (30 June), the community moved from the 1972 building back to St Peter's Grange and the new abbey was sold for conversion into luxury apartments.