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Downside Abbey
Church is dedicated to Saint Gregory the Great;
it is a Minor Basilica. It is also the largest
of the Neo-Gothic style churches built in this
country after the Reformation, and was described
by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "the most splendid
demonstration of the renaissance of Roman Catholicism
in England. If ever there was an excuse for building
in period forms in the twentieth century, it is
here".
The church was built in three stages, and under
the direction of different architects, as money
became available: the Transept or Crossing of the
Church, by Dunn and Hansom, dates from 1882. The
Choir is by Thomas Garner and was opened in 1905.
The Nave, by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott dates from
1925.
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Despite
the seemingly haphazard manner of construction,
the result is a pleasing whole. Indeed, the overall
construction, already envisaged at the outset by
Cardinal Gasquet when he was Prior of the community,
resembles that of the greater Gothic churches in
the Middle Ages, which were also the product of
the imagination of succeeding generations of builders.
The Church Tower dominates the monastery and the
surrounding countryside. Completed in 1938, it is
166 feet (55m) and the second highest Church Tower
in Somerset. It contains a single bell, named Great
Bede in memory of Dom Bede Vaughan, who became Archbishop
of Sydney. She came to us in 1903 from Beverley Minster.
Its note is G bourdon.
The church provides a place of worship for the pupils
of our School as well as other visitors, but its
primary purpose is for monastic prayer. The monks
spend about 2 1⁄2 hours
here every day together in prayer. The Church is
also a place of private prayer, and it is open during
the day for anyone ‘just to go in and pray’ as
St Benedict wanted. We try hard to keep the church
as a place of prayer, a shrine of the abiding presence
of God among his people.
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