There was a report in yesterdays Eastern Daily Press about the proposed plans to enhance visitor appeal at St. Benet’s Abbey in a scheme which is expected to cost £780,000 plus! The Norfolk Archaeological Trust, which owns the site, wants to improve access to the Benedictine abbey ruins by upgrading existing cycle and footpaths, install interpretation boards which will guide visitors through the history of the site, and also develop educational resources which will include a new website. The trust are currently trying to raise £160,000 in matched funding to support a bid of around £500,000 to the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Bishop of Norwich arriving at St. Benet's
It is known that a monastery stood on this site from at least the 10th century, gaining the patronage of King Canute in 1020 when it became a Benedictine abbey, and it amassed great wealth and power during the middle ages. It was the only monastery in Britain to survive the dissolution when King Henry VIII agreed to exchange the abbey for land owned by the diocese of Norwich and, to this day, the Bishop of Norwich still holds the title of Abbot of St. Benet’s. Since 1939, an annual service has been held at the abbey by the incumbent Bishop on the first Sunday in August when he traditionally arrives by wherry. The photograph above was sent to me by John Hopthrow and shows the wherry “Dragon” arriving for the service at St. Benet’s in 1958 with the then Bishop of Norwich, Percy Mark Herbert, standing on the forepeak
The Norfolk Archaeological Trust. website also mentions that after the last monk left the abbey in 1545, the buildings were soon demolished and the materials were transported elsewhere to be re-used, possibly in the building of the new Dukes Palace in Norwich which began in 1561. I have also read that when the old Swan Hotel at Horning was demolished to make way for the current building in the late 19th century, many fine carvings and other stone from the abbey were found to have been used in its construction …. similar stories have also been written about the original Ferry Inn at Horning. Little remains of the abbey today but a walk round the site reveals dips, and lumps and bumps in the landscape which can only hint at the sheer scale of the once magnificent abbey and its associated buildings. The most dominating feature is the remains of the 14th century abbey gate and the tower of a later drainage mill, of which there are some fascinating photographs from the mid to late 1800s on the trusts website.
