Hailes Abbey
Situated on the edges of the Cotswolds , the ruins of Hailes Abbey date from the 13th century and were once a great Cistercian house.
Hailes Abbey was founded by the Earl of Cornwall in 1246 and for around 300 years was home to a Cistercian order originally from Beaulieu Abbey. Throughout the 13th Century Hailes Abbey was one of the great pilgrimages of the medieval ages as the abbey was reputed to house the blood of Christ in an elaborate shrine at the east end of the abbey. However the authenticity of this relic was later disputed.
Little remains of this once magnificent medieval church but the extensive outlines of the abbey can seen in the ruins. The most extensive remains include a set of arches built into the south wall of the abbey cloisters and the abbey church. Some traces of the elaborate mouldings can be seen but most of the surviving artefacts from Hailes Abbey are on display in a nearby museum.
These artefacts retrieved from the abbey include some of the monastery’s treasures, a collection of pottery and a selection of floor tiles and stone vaulting bosses. But some of the most interesting finds are the fragments of a 13th century effigy of a knight.
Hailes Abbey was all but destroyed following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. The ruins are a place of tranquil seclusion, set within woodland and grazing land for sheep, best seen on a sunny Spring day with the trees blossoming.
This attraction is included in the Great British Heritage Pass.
