Downside Abbey - Basilica of St Gregory the Great

Introduction

Downside Abbey - Basilica of St Gregory the Great in Stratton-on-the-Fosse is dedicated to St Gregory, the Pope who sent St Augustine to England.

History

The Monastic Community of Downside has continuously produced books from its inception in 1606. St Benedict's church, Stratton on the Fosse, was built to the designs of Charles Hansom and completed in 1857.

The Downside Review has been published since 1880 when the monks were building their new abbey church and monastery. The archive holds papers of Edmund Bishop, liturgical scholar and historian. The parish established its Pastoral Council following a diocesan-wide consultation.

Visiting

The Library is the largest private library in the South West of England, with strengths in Philosophy, Theology, Patristics, History, Biblical Exegesis and Sundials, and its Rare Book Collection is one of the finest in the country. Downside Abbey Library holdings number some 500,000 volumes of which 10% are considered rare (pre-1801). The library's earliest texts date back to the eleventh century and it has a rich collection of Incunabula and late-Medieval/Early Modern manuscript books, with a full card index available for scholars.

The archive includes a large collection of letters and architectural drawings ranging from Sir Ninian Comper, Pugin, Dunn and Hansom and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The archive holds papers of the First Baron Acton – the celebrated historian. The archive holds the papers of a Vatican Librarian and Prior of Downside. The archive holds papers of an Archbishop of Sydney.

The archive holds MSS of the Vicars Apostolic of the Western Vicariate. The archive holds the Catholic Record Society Archive.

The archive includes St Oliver Plunkett’s Prison Letters. The archive includes Augustine Baker: Benedictine mystic and ecclesiastical historian. The archive includes the papers of the abbots and priors of Downside Abbey (St Gregory’s). The archive includes the Camm MSS.

The archive includes Ethelbert Horne: Benedictine monk and archaeologist. The archive includes Downside School Archives (historic), with access rights and permissions details available on request. The Mission Collection is the in house repository of the missions that the priory ran from the seventeenth century through to present times, both local and national.