During the four centuries that separated the reign of King Stephen from the Reformation, Forde Abbey, founded in 1146, was one of the most significant Cistercian monasteries in England.
The buildings seen today were all in existence in the Middle Ages, forming the Abbot's and monk's quarters, their kitchen, refectories, and their chapter house. The abbey church has gone, together with the guest wing and three sides of the cloisters. Though altered, the monastery the monks knew still stands, clothed in the new architectural fashions of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
While the final years of so many English monasteries are remembered for their feebleness and decadence, Forde ended in a blaze of glory. Thomas Chard, the last of the thirty-two abbots devoted much of his time and energy to repairing and reconstructing the fabric of the Abbey building. In 1539 Henry VIII ordered the dissolution of the larger monasteries. Chard, his work unfinished handed the Abbey over to the King, and was subsequently made vicar of Thorncombe, the local village.
100 years after the dissolution the Abbey was acquired by Sir Edmund Prideaux, Attorney General to Oliver Cromwell at the time of the Commonwealth. He transformed what must have been a somewhat dilapidated monastery into the magnificent country house you see today, by adding state apartments above the monastic cloisters and transforming the principal rooms with the addition of paneling and ornate plaster ceilings. These ceilings are almost unique in England. The famous tapestries that hang in the Grand Saloon are copies of the cartoons drawn by Raphael for the Sistine Chapel. This set were ordered by Sir Edmund Prideaux from the factory at Mortlake but only reached Forde when Queen Anne presented them to Sir Francis Gwyn, who married Prideaux's granddaughter, in recognition of his services as Secretary of State for War.
Today the House is the home of the Roper family, who together occupy and care for the Abbey. They farm still, as the monks did five centuries ago, as well as developing many activities within the house itself, including wedding receptions, corporate dinners, classical music recording, concerts, and filming. In the 850 years since the Cistercian Abbey was founded all sorts and conditions of people have lived, worked or visited Forde Abbey. Today the variety is as great as ever, and the numbers much greater.
