| Print | More

MOUNT ST BERNARDS ABBEY

ABOUT THIS MONUMENT

+ / -

EH Visitor Information
Related Monuments
Related Text
Investigation History

More Pictures
Modern Map
Old Map
Aerial Photograph

Monument Types
Sources
Thesaurus
Description

DESCRIPTION

+ / -

A Cistercian monastery and reformatory, founded in 1835; it became a guest house in 1844 when replaced by the new monastery, then a reformatory in 1856, it closed down in 1885 and was demolished.

DETAIL

+ / -

MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

+ / -

(Sited to SK 45801555 from O.S. 6" 1887)

Mount St Bernards Abbey in the Charnwood Forest was the first
permanent Post Reformation monastery to be founded in England. The
monks, of the Cistercian order, had the responsibilities of running
the largest reformatory in the country put upon them by their abbott in 1856. The inmates were youths from the Irish community in Liverpool, some of the roughest people around. Their rebellious behaviour became too much for the monks and local community to cope with and the reformatory closed down in 1885. The ruins can be seen some half mile northwest of the present Abbey. (1)

Mount St. Bernard's Reformatory (Disused). (2)

Founded in 1835, the idea came from Ambrose Lisle March Phillips of
Grace Dieu Manor who bought and donated the land. His own
architect at Grace Dieu, William Rialton, designed a little Tudor-
style monastery which opened in 1837. When it was replaced by the new monastery, (SK 41 NE 11), in 1844, it was used as a grange for guests until 1856 when it became the reformatory (some of which survives). (3)

SOURCE TEXT

(1) General reference

Trans Leicestershire Archaeol Hist Soc 51 1975-76 p 51-2

(2) General reference

O.S. 6" Leics XVII S.W. 1887

(3) General reference

Pevsner N and Williams E 1984 Bldgs of Eng Leicestershire and Rutland Penguin: London 323

RELATED MONUMENTS

+ / -

Monument Name/No

Resources

Description

MOUNT ST BERNARDS ABBEY
CHARLEY

Monument Pictures
Monument Maps
Monument Investigation
Monument Sources
EH Visitor Information

Cistercian monastery, founded in 1839, opened in 1844. Designed by Pugin. It replaced an earlier monastery, SK 41 NE 12.

MONUMENT TYPES

+ / -

COMMENTS

+ / -

Please help us keep our information accurate let us know if you see any errors on this page.

Further information about monuments may be obtained by contacting Archive Services, through the English Heritage website.

EH Archives
EH Prints
English Heritage
Heritage Explorer
Heritage Gateway
Images of England
National Heritage List for England
English Heritage Archive
ViewFinder