Skip to content
The Great Britain Guide

Memorials & monuments · South East England

Douai Abbey

Free admission

Douai Abbey is a memorial in the United Kingdom.

Douai Abbey, memorials & monuments in South East England

Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
15 min–45 min
Nearest railway station
Midgham · 1.6 km
  • Free entry
  • Dog-friendly

About

Douai Abbey is a public memorial in South-East England, recording local sacrifice and named in the parish register of war and civic monuments. The site is within the North Wessex Downs National Landscape (AONB). It sits within the Reading West and Mid Berkshire parliamentary constituency. The nearest railway station is Midgham, about 1.6 km away. Postcode area RG7.

Photo gallery

Protected designations

  • Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: North Wessex Downs

Designations sourced from Natural England open data under OGL v3.

From the Wikipedia article

Douai Abbey is a Benedictine Abbey at Upper Woolhampton, near Thatcham, in the English county of Berkshire, situated within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. Monks from the monastery of St. Edmund's, in Douai, France, came to Woolhampton in 1903 when the community left France as a result of anti-clerical legislation. The abbey church is listed Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

The community of St. Edmund was formed in Paris in 1615 by Dom Gabriel Gifford, later Archbishop of Rheims and primate of France. With his backing the community flourished. Expelled from Paris during the Revolution, the community took over the vacant buildings of the community of St Gregory's in Douai in 1818. Amid the political upheavals caused by the Dreyfus affair around the turn of the 19th century, the French prime minister Waldeck-Rousseau introduced an anti-clerical Law of Associations (1901) that "severely curbed the influence of religious orders in France". This led to the community being given the minor seminary of St Mary in Woolhampton by Bishop Cahill of Portsmouth, moving from…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
51.4098, -1.1715
Parish
Woolhampton
Postcode
RG7 5TQ
Parliamentary constituency
Reading West and Mid Berkshire
Established
1615
Nearest railway station
Midgham1.6 km

Sources

Other places nearby

Loading nearby places…

Nearby

More memorials in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is Douai Abbey?
Douai Abbey is in South-East England, United Kingdom (postcode RG7 5TQ), in the parish of Woolhampton.
When was Douai Abbey built?
Built or established in 1615.
Is Douai Abbey a protected site?
Yes — Douai Abbey is part of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape (AONB).
Is Douai Abbey free to visit?
Yes, Douai Abbey is free to enter.
How do I get to Douai Abbey?
The nearest railway station is Midgham, about 1.6 km away. Drivers can navigate to postcode RG7 5TQ.