Bayham Old Abbey

Bayham Old Abbey is an English Heritage property, located near Frant, East Sussex, England. Founded c. 1207 through a combination of the failing Premonstratensian monasteries of Otham and Brockley, Bayham functioned as an abbey until its dissolution in the 16th century. The ruins were partially modified in the late 18th century, to provide a better landscape feature during landscaping of the new Bayham Abbey mansion park, and were donated to the state in 1961.

Bayham Abbey lies within the valley of the River Teise. Premonstratensian canons often preferred secluded areas for their monasteries, and Bayham was such a location. The river provided a water supply and adequate drainage. As Bayham was founded through the conjunction of two abbeys with different mother houses – Sulby having founded Brockley and perhaps Durford being the mother house of Otham – Prémontré Abbey became the mother church of Bayham Abbey, which then assumed the prestige proper to a daughter of Prémontré.

The abbey ruins are currently maintained by English Heritage. They largely consist of partial walls, though the room layouts can still be seen, and there remains many examples of ornate capitals and other carved stonework; including stone frameworks from the three giant windows comprising the nave. The quality of the work is particularly fine for a late thirteenth-century Premonstratensian abbey.

The abbey is sited on the Kent/Sussex border and is presumed to have had an entrance in each county. The ruins of a gatehouse, known as the Kentish gate, is situated nearby on the grounds. No trace has been found of the corresponding Sussex gate. Other buildings, normally associated with abbeys, such as stables and barns, are yet to be located.

Bayham abbey was built from local sandstone in the first half of the 13th century by Premonstratensian canons. By the 15th century the original design had been enlarged with new transepts, though the original transepts are still visible within the structure. The Abbey was home to Premonstratensian canons regular: that is to say they followed the life ascribed to St Augustine of Hippo, keeping the Augustinian rule in its purity.

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