Recycled Abbey

With brilliant blue skies if chilly temperatures, Shrove Tuesday invited us to do more than just eat pancakes. It mobilised us go and have a nose round a place we've been meaning to investigate for ages.

refectory early 13th cent. with trifoil windows

We've often driven through Cormery, a small place on the river Indre between Loches and Tours; indeed when we first arrived it seemed like we were schlepping up to Tours so often the car could have driven itself! Yet, even then we'd noticed the slightly worn signs pointing towards 'L'Abbaye de Cormery'.

back of chapel of the virgin,
flamboyant gothic and the half timbering
of the abbot's house

To anyone who is used to seeing ruined abbeys in remote locations such as is often the case in the UK; for example Fountains Abbey [Cistercian] or Mount Grace [Carthusian], this location might come as a bit of a surprise. Cormery Abbey, as a Benedictine foundation, is very much part of the town--in more ways than one!

13th cent. arcading of the chapterhouse;
now part of a 1950's house

It is as if a child had thrown mediaeval Lego in amongst the modern blocks and then proceeded to build things. Though the abbey may now be a jumble, or the ultimate recycle if you prefer, it did provide us with a fascinating puzzle to explore.

front of the abbot's house, 15th cent.

It also has a lovely York connection which we appreciate. The abbey was founded by Ithier, abbot of St Martin of Tours in 791AD. He installed 5 monks in a small cell on the banks of the river Indre and obtained a foundation charter from Charlemagne. He wanted somewhere remote where he could retreat and meditate well away from the hustle and bustle of the abbey of Tours. Over time a small town grew up alongside the abbey at Cormery and the remote river-ford location became a bustling place.

 chapel of the virgin, late 15th cent

chapel of the virgin,
flamboyant gothic late 15th cent.;
house window later addition!

 


In 800, when Ithier died, Charlemagne appointed Alcuin of York to succeed him as abbot of St Martin of Tours. A key figure of the Carolingian Renaissance, Alcuin set about reforming the teaching at Tours and 20 Benedictine monks were dispatched to Cormery. Alcuin died in 804. By 821 there were more than 40 monks. Cormery remained an important daughter house of the abbey of Tours.

remnants of the cloister early 13th cent.;
porch tower in the background, late 11th cent

The abbey suffered heavily from Viking depredations in the 9th century and the building remnants seen today are all from the 11th century rebuild or later. Cormery, like many other Touraine foundations also suffered under the Anjou dynasty during the 12th century; during 100 Years War [14th/15th century] and again in the French Wars of Religion [16th].

late 11th cent. porch tower; the nave is now the street

The town still has good evidence of the fortifications built to protect the abbey enclosure during these upheavals. Many bits of wall and tower are now incorporated into houses. By the advent of the French Revolution it was a shadow of its former self, and in 1799 the buildings were sold off by the state.