Kintbury Abbey facts for kids

This old document, called the Will of Wulfgar, from the years 931–939 AD, talks about giving land in Inkpen to a "holy place" (halgan stowe) at Kintbury (Cynetanbyrig).

Kintbury Abbey was a very old place in Kintbury, Berkshire, England, that people think might have been an Anglo-Saxon monastery. A monastery is a place where monks live and work. Even though there was a plan to rebuild it in 1147, it never actually happened.

What Was Kintbury Abbey?

Kintbury Abbey is a bit of a mystery! It's believed to have been an Anglo-Saxon monastery. The Anglo-Saxons were a group of people who lived in England a very long time ago. A monastery is a special building where monks or nuns live, pray, and work together.

The Clues from Wulfgar's Will

We only know about Kintbury Abbey from one very old document. This document is called the will of a man named Wulfgar. A will is a legal paper that says what someone wants to happen to their belongings after they die. Wulfgar was a "thegn," which was a type of nobleman or warrior in Anglo-Saxon times.

Wulfgar wrote his will around the year 931 AD. In it, he said he was giving the village of Inkpen to "the servants of God at Kentbury and the Holy Place there." This "Holy Place" is what makes historians think there was a monastery or a religious community at Kintbury. Some old Saxon remains have been found near St Mary's Church in Kintbury. These findings might show us where this ancient site once stood.

A Plan That Never Happened

Many years later, in 1147, there was a new plan for Kintbury. A powerful nobleman named Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester, wanted to build a new religious house there. He planned to create a convent for Benedictine nuns. Nuns are women who dedicate their lives to God and live in a community called a convent. The Benedictine order is a very old group of monks and nuns.

This new convent was meant to be built south of the River Kennet, in an area called Holt within Kintbury parish. However, the building work was very slow. In the end, the plan for Kintbury was dropped. The land and the idea were instead given to the nuns at Nuneaton in Warwickshire. So, the Kintbury Abbey that Robert de Beaumont planned never came to be.