Quarr Abbey has many echoes down the centuries. It is now a functioning 20th century Benedictine Monastery. This was built on to a 19th century mansion, also called Quarr Abbey. Just to the east are the ruins of the ancient Quarr Abbey, originally built in the 12th century and dissolved in the 16th century. In its day it was a Cistercian house. It is a curiosity that two different orders should inhabit the same land at different periods of history but that helps to make this a more interesting story.
The modern history goes back to 1901 when a group of Benedictine monks exiled themselves from their native France because the French government of the day were making life difficult for them. French monasteries were first dissolved in 1790 and had their assets seized by the revolutionary government. They were probably worse treated than the monasteries were in the 1530s by Henry VIII's regime in England. Nevertheless they recovered only to encounter further punitive legislation later in the 19th century.
The monks did indeed run into more troubles, this was due to the political climate about in France which had been prevalent for a number of years before and culminated with a government anti-clérical,Léon Gambetta a future Prime Minister (he was only in power for three months ) is quoted as saying "le cléricalisme voila l'ennemi!" In 1880 his successor Jules Ferry decided to get rid of religious congregations and reduce the influence of the church in universities. The monks of Solemnes, who were later to come to the Isle of Wight, were expelled on the 6th of November of that year. They found shelter where they could in local houses and manors with sympathisers. They attempted over the next twenty years to return but in spite of some further building work their stay was always precarious.
Finally in 1901 Prime Minister Émile Combes's government brought in Law Anticongréganistes which quite simply forbade religious communities and led to the Great Exile. They left for countries such as Belgium, Italy, Spain, England, the Channel Islands and South America and the USA. It is somewhat ironic that England was seen as a safe haven by 1901.
The monks first established themselves at Appuldurcombe House near Ventnor, but a few years later, when their lease ran out, they were able to purchase Quarr Abbey in 1907. Quarr Abbey by this time was a large Victorian Mansion facing the north shore of the island. Osborne House was a neighbour. The monks at first used the house for accommodation and brought their wooden church from the south of the island; of course it was taken apart on the older site and re-assembled at Quarr.
Within a few years money was made available for new buildings, essentially the devotional part of the monastery, built on the south side of the Victorian mansion. The architect was himself a monk, Dom Paul Beliot, himself a trained architect, undertook the design and supervised construction.
The results are impressive and at the time was probably daring. Nineteenth century architects tended to build with brick but face with stone to give a sense of timelessness and continuity with the past. Beliot chose to make a virtue of the brick and used it in a decorative as well as structural medium. The colours of the chosen brick, which apparently came from Belgium, emanate a very rich and warm feeling.
The interior is more austere. the chapel is high and wide and could accommodate many. In reality there are only 8 monks living there so there is no opportunity to do other than contemplate God in the chapel.
Gradually, English monks began to replace the French. The guide for the day, and seemingly the point of contact with the outside world, is Father Luke Bell and English now seems to be the everyday language of the institution. The monastery probably subsists on donations from benefactors and the proceeds of its various activities - the tea rooms, visitors, guests who are able to stay at the monastery and retreats.
The monks keep pigs, aparently to keep their hand in doing useful practical work. the pigs may be the noisiest animals at this peaceful site.
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