Downside Abbey Church, Stratton-on-the-Fosse

Executed at Tyburn in London and venerated in Somerset, the shrine of St Oliver Plunkett draws pilgrims to this Roman Catholic monastery cathedral

Highlights

• Shrine of St Oliver Plunkett

This church looks as authentically medieval as any in England, though it was only completed in the 20th century. It contains the shrine of St Oliver Plunkett, the last Roman Catholic to be martyred in England. The saint came from Ireland, where he was archbishop of Armagh. He is not counted as one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales because of his Irish background. He was canonised in 1975, the first Irishman in 700 years to be recognised as a saint.

His relics are in the north transept, kept in an oak casket with gold fittings that sits on top of a tall stone base. It has a place to light candles alongside. The church is open every day, as a place of prayer and pilgrimage rather than a visitor attraction. The abbey has relics of two other saints, St John Roberts and St Ambrose Barlow, but their shrines were not obvious when I visited.

The shrine contains most of the saint’s body. His head, however, is in Ireland, displayed in a shrine inside St Peter’s Church in Drogheda, County Louth.

St Oliver comes from a place and time different from most martyrs of the Reformation era, having served in Ireland as archbishop from 1669 until his arrest in 1678. He was brought to England for trial, facing the ludicrous accusation that he was organizing an invasion of Ireland by 20,000 French soldiers. He was killed at Tyburn in London on 1 July 1681 on a charge of high treason. His body was soon taken to Lamspringe Abbey in Germany for safekeeping but was moved to Downside in 1881 when the monastery was opened.

Downside Abbey is a Benedictine community founded in 1821 by monks from Douai Abbey in France, who escaped to England following the French Revolution. The monastery was completed in 1876 and its church in 1925. Its formal title is the Basilica of St Gregory the Great, named in honour of Pope Gregory, who famously sent St Augustine to convert the English in 597.

Directions

Downside Abbey

Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Radstock, Bath BA3 4RJ

www.downsideabbey.co.uk

W3W: used.handy.repeating

GPS: 51.2558N 2.4963W

The abbey church is in the village, with a separate entrance to Downside School. The turning down Abbey Road is marked with a small sign, 250m north of the school entrance, with space to park. The church is open during the day for private prayer, with a visitor centre nearby. The saint’s shrine is on the left as you walk to the end of the nave.