Launde Abbey: Thomas Cromwell's little heaven here on earth

There is an abbey, Launde, in the heart of England. The air is always sweet there and it's quiet. A little heaven here on earth. And I think to myself: "I'll live here one day, when all my work is done."

These were Thomas Cromwell's last words in the wonderful Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light yesterday evening.

Launde is a real place and still much as Cromwell described it - a green bowl in the hills of High Leicestershire.

Today Launde Abbey is a Church of England retreat house. Its website sets out the site's history:

Launde Abbey was founded as an Augustinian priory in 1119 by Richard Basset, a royal official of Henry I. During the first century of its life the community buildings, cloister and garth were built, including an imposing church of which one side chapel still survives, now used as the Chapel at the present-day Abbey.

Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s chief minister responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries, found Launde’s location very desirable. After visiting the priory in April 1540 he wrote in his Remembrances (a kind of personal journal) "Myself for Launde," although he never occupied the house as he was executed just three months later for treason. 

His son Gregory, however, had kept royal favour – no doubt helped by his marriage to Elizabeth Seymour, sister to Henry VIII’s beloved wife Jane – and lived at Launde Abbey with Elizabeth for ten years; during this time he had some of the dilapidated monastic buildings restored or rebuilt. Gregory was buried at Launde and a monument erected by his wife remains in the Chapel to this day.

I took these photos at some sort of open day back in 2008. I understand the buildings at Launde have been fully restored since then and the site is looking far more prosperous. You can find a photograph of the interior of the chapel, including the monument to Gregory Cromwell, on the Launde Abbey website.

A Leicestershire circular pilgrimage: St Morrell’s Round

The British Pilgrimage Trust has a page on St Morrell’s Round - an 18-mile circular route within Leicestershire.

The round is inspired by the medieval pilgrimages made to St Morrell’s Chapel on the hillside near Hallaton. Morrell, who died in 453AD, was Bishop of Anger in North-West France. He went into self-imposed exile overseas before returning to be beatified for performing the miracle of Renatus, which is shown on a mural in Anger cathedral. 

Some 800 years later a Norman overlord built a chapel in Hallaton and dedicated it to St Morrell. This is the only church in Britain mentioning Morrell and so it might have been believed that Morrell’s exile was in Hallaton. 

We know that it was a pilgrimage destination for at least the next three hundred years. The chapel was rediscovered in 2014 and work is being carried out to restore the crypt of St Michael’s Church, Hallaton, so the remains found in the chapel can be reinterred there.

The pilgrimage starts and finishes at the museum on Churchgate in Hallaton, which is next to St Michael’s church where there is evidence of an external pulpit built to address gathered pilgrims. The route leaves Hallaton on a medieval road passing its motte and bailey castle before visiting four more rural churches built from the local ironstone, all of which were open during the time when the medieval pilgrims were passing. 

Of note is St Michael’s, Loddington, which was left isolated when the whole village was rebuilt a short distance away after the plague. The far point of the route is Launde Abbey, originally built in 1099 as an Augustine Priory and later taken by Thomas Cromwell. 

As the route crosses the ridges of high Leicestershire it passes fragments of ancient woodland - including the Launde Big Wood, which is conserved and shows exactly the kind of woodland that pilgrims walked through on their way to Hallaton.

Devotion, death and dissolution in Leicestershire 2

The second part of Jim Butler's latest Hidden Histories video discovers Leiceser's lost churches and takes us to Launde Abbey and John Wycliffe's Lutterworth.

Watch part 1 here.

Thomas Cromwell: "Myself for Launde"

© Stephen Craven

From English Buildings back in 2008:

Launde Abbey was originally an Augustinian priory founded in the 12th century. Beautifully sited in this dip, it must have looked inviting with its church and group of stone buildings. 

Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s minister who organized the survey of England’s monasteries that eventually led to the dissolution, certainly thought so. When the religious houses closed in the 1530s, of all the monasteries in England, Cromwell bagged Launde for himself. ‘Myself for Launde,’ he wrote in his journal. 

The Cromwell family built themselves a house at Launde, incorporating the priory’s church into the new fabric. The house has been altered quite a bit since, and it’s not known how much of the Cromwell house actually remains, although it shares the site and the inviting prospect afforded by the monastery.

Launde Abbey is in Leicestershire, 17 miles from Market Harborough.

Launde Abbey

Today I went to a fun day Launde Abbey in High Leicestershire. Launde is a residential retreat house and conference centre serving the dioceses of Leicester and Peterborough. As explained in this BBC News video, it is currently undergoing a major restoration following a major fund raising-drive.

Launde was originally the site of a priory, founded early in the 12th century. Thomas Cromwell was so taken with the setting that he took it for himself when the monasteries were dissolved. However, he lost Henry VIII's favour over the king's unsuccessful marriage to Anne of Cleeves - a case of backing the wrong horse? - and was executed.

So it was Thomas's son Gregory who built the house and appears to have lived the quieter and more secure life of a country gentleman. He married Elizabeth Seymour, the sister of another of Henry's wives.

Pevsner says that it is not clear how much of Gregory's house is left at Launde and suggests that what stands there today appears early to date from the early 17th century.

There is one survival from priory: Launde's chapel, which contains Gregory's monument. This is described by Pevsner as "one of the purest monuments of the early Renaissance in England".

Launde Abbey

English Buildings is in Leicestershire again. This time it's Launde Abbey:

Launde Abbey was originally an Augustinian priory founded in the 12th century. Beautifully sited in this dip, it must have looked inviting with its church and group of stone buildings.

Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII’s minister who organized the survey of England’s monasteries that eventually led to the dissolution, certainly thought so. When the religious houses closed in the 1530s, of all the monasteries in England, Cromwell bagged Launde for himself. ‘Myself for Launde,’ he wrote in his journal.