Prinknash Abbey

We were founded in the Anglican Communion in 1896 but became Roman Catholic in 1913. We came to Prinknash in 1928 and became an Abbey in 1937. We founded Farnborough and Pluscarden, and, in the 1980s, Kristo Buase in Ghana, West Africa. We are a purely contemplative community, now very small (8), where once we were 80. We find it to be true that, small though we are, with even a question mark over our future, the quality of our life now, with six members in residence, mostly elderly, is far better than it was when we were 80. Brethren have to be more generous, and more flexible. The ideology has gone and has, we hope, been replaced by the Spirit. This is not to say that there are not rules and structures, but they do not have that same rigidity which they might have had in earlier times. We have a flourishing group of secular oblates who have monthly meetings at the monastery shop and cafe. Members of this group are also members of UKOT (UK Oblates' Team) which coordinates the efforts of oblates in the UK and Ireland, and helps the Abbot Primate with the regular international Congresses. Fr Mark of our community is the monastic representative to UKOT and also, being Oblate DIrector, tries to coordinate the efforts of Oblates Directors in the UK and Ireland.

For a more complete history, see the website www.prinknashabbey.org, which provides the history of Prinknash as a place. The house we live in, as shown in the photo, was built by the last Abbot of Gloucester around 1520.