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The Abbey Church is magnificent. It is a Grade One Listed Building, designed by the architect Gabriel
Hippolyte Destailleur, who came to Farnborough after completing Waddesdon Manor for the Rothschild family
in Buckinghamshire. Mgr Ronald Knox, who was received into the Catholic Church here, described it as
‘utterly, irreclaimably French.’ It is Gothic in style, with a renaissance dome reminiscent of that of
Les Invalides in Paris. Numerous details of churches along the Loire are ‘quoted’ in the architecture.
The building combines the splendour one might expect of a royal foundation with the austerity of a
monastic church. Simple, lofty arches and an Italian marble pavement feast the eye to the richly
decorated corona above the High Altar with the French inscription on its beams 'St Michael our glorious
patron, pray for France and for England'. The Archangel's statue is above the organ. Eagles and bees -
the imperial emblems - decorate the walls surrounding the High Altar.
In the north transept is the monastic choir where the monks chant daily the Divine Office, and in the
south transept is the Queen Square altar. This altar belonged to the nuns of St Katherine's convent,
Queen Square, London. The reredos, a later addition to the original altar, was added as a memorial to
their chaplain, Dr Richard Littledale, author of the hymn 'Come down, O love divine' and the book 'Plain
Reasons Against Joining the Church of Rome'.
The church was extensively renovated in 2000-02 with the aid of English Heritage and The Heritage Lottery
Fund. Thanks to the help of these and other bodies, the monks are able to maintain their buildings and
preserve them for the purpose for which they were originally intended. Often visitors come to us and,
knowing something of the richness of our history, wonder if we are more museum than monastery. This myth
is quickly dispelled when they experience the prayerfulness of our church.
Dom Cabrol, our first abbot, put it well. "What you see before your eyes," he said, "is no mere monument
to the glories that once belonged to France, but is built of greater stones - those of the daily sacrifice
of Christian Prayer."
For further information or comments please
contact info@farnboroughabbey.org
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