Kingswood Abbey/Gatehouse
We got lucky with this one, if we had never gone to see the church next door and got talking to the Reverend then we'd have never have gotten to see the inside of what is left of Kingswood Abbey.
Back in the abbey's glory days it was a Cistercian abbey which was founded by William of Berkeley in 1139. This was done in accordance of the wishes of his uncle Roger II of Berkeley and was designed with the Cistercian house at Tintern in mind which is why when we met the lovely custodian's of the church, they told us if we wanted to picture the intact abbey then look no further than it's sister abbey, Tintern.
At some point Elizabeth Berkeley, Countess of Warwick was buried at the abbey.
By the mid 12th century the abbot and most of the monks had been removed from the site and moved first to Hazelton Abbey and then to Tetbury. In the meantime, Kingswood Abbey became a grange until the community returned to Mireford. The abbot was then replaced in 1517 by a royal appointee which caused a riot and when the 3rd Duke of Buckingham, Edward Stafford, made his displeasure known the order was restored.
Obviously when the Big Bully King brought the Dissolution of Monasteries the site was surrendered and then demolished, all that was left standing is the gatehouse we see now. They demolished it so thoroughly that the exact location of the abbey and its church has been lost to history. Henry VIII then leased the estate to Sir Nicholas Poyntz for 21 years until 1559 when Elizabeth I granted it to Sir John Thynne who was the builder of Longleat.
You can go inside the gatehouse on certain occasions as it is run by English Heritage, they even have a secondhand bookshop they run out of it. However, on most days it is closed but we were super lucky. If it wasn't for the fact we got distracted by the nearby church, then ended up talking to the Reverend, who is the custodian for the gatehouse in English Heritage's absence along with his wife, we'd have never have gotten to see inside. We ended up staying here for about an hour just chatting with this lovely couple and got a private tour which was amazing. Of course the next day we decided to drive to Wales to see Tintern Abbey and we were not disappointed. If Kingswood really was the spitting image of Tintern then it would have been epic! We've lost another good one thanks to the Big Bully King!
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