Walk 43 Ryde to Quarr Abbey - 2.5 miles

Thick fog encased my house but I had hopes of better weather elsewhere so I crossed the island to Ryde for a my first photowalk of the year, from Ryde town centre to Quarr Abbey, starting at the High Street, then via Star St to Queens Rd, right on Pellhurst Rd until coming to the car park by the golf course. 

The coastal path to the right of the clubhouse leads down through the golf course, known as Ladies Walk. We soon come to the Church of the Holy Cross at Binstead, with 11th century origins but this church dates from 1844.

In the churchyard, look out for a tombstone of a man mistaken for a smuggler which is carved with a boat in chase of a sloop and which reads: 
"To the memory of Tho' Sivell who was cruelly shot on board his sloop by some officers of the customs of the port of Portsmouth on the 13th June 1785 at the age of 64 years leaving a disconsolate widow and family." 
A gateway to the churchyard features a Sheela-Na-Gig or "Saxon idol". 

By PFR Forster (Own work) CC BY-SA 3.0  via Wikimedia Commons

We pass the attractive thatched cottage Key Lodge before coming to the ruins of the ancient abbey of Quarr, founded in 1132 by Baldwin de Redvers, later Lord of the Island, who brought Cistercian monks from Savigny Abbey, in Normandy. 

The abbey, named after the nearby quarry, had a library and an infirmary as some of the monks were doctors and pharmacists who tended islanders. The remaining Savigny monks arrived in 1147; the monks fortified the site and nearby villages with gun ports in the 14th century,when marauding French ships sailed in the Solent as the ferries do today. It became the largest monastery on the island; however, Henry VIII dissolved the Abbey in July 1536 and the last abbot, with one of his monks, left for Beaulieu.

 The visible ruins include parts of the infirmary chapel, kitchen and refectory.

Next, we come to Quarr Abbey House, built from recycled stone from the old abbey. It was the home of Sir Thomas Cochrane, whose daughter Minna was lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria's daughter Beatrice, who honeymooned here when she married Prince Henry of Battenberg. Queen Victoria was a regular visitor and her son the Prince of Wales watched the Cowes Week sailing from the balcony with Kaiser William.(Wikipedia).

In 1907 Quarr Abbey House was bought by Benedictine monks who had been leasing the Appuldurcombe House near Ventnor and it formed part of the new Quarr Abbey monastery buildings, seen below in a picture from 1910.                                                                          A few yards futher on, we come to the Quarr Abbey, an imposing red brick building inmodern Moorish style. It was founded by exiled French monks who first came to Appuldurcombe House from Solesmes in 1901 and then bought Quarr Abbey House, where Dom Paul Bellot designed a new monastery and, in 1911, the church.

Most monks returned to France in 1922, but 25 remained to found a new order. Inspired by his time in the Netherlands, Bellot chose to work in Belgian brick, building on to the older Victorian buildings and using only local workmen. An arched doorway leads into the nave with its patterned brickwork.

Concerts in Gregorian Chant are sometimes held in the Abbey, which is still home to Benedictine monks.

 

 In the gardens can be seen two statues, one of Our Lady of Quarr and one of St Benedict.

The Abbey is open to the public and the monks look after visitors who come to stay or who visit  the monastery shop, or the tea garden. Others produce food, growing vegetables or fruit, or looking after the pigs, cattle, or bees. They also maintain the buildings, or work in the gardens or on the estate. There is also a book bindery on the site and regular art exhibitions.   Passing the piggery we return to the main road to pick up a bus towards either Ryde or Wootton Bridge.

Walk Details
Start: High St, Ryde
Finish: Quarr Abbey
Distance: 2.5 miles
Time:  50 minutes
Bus: No 9 from Newport via Staplers to Wootton Bridge
Refreshments/WC: Quarr Abbey Tea Gardens  

Walk Route