The Benedictine life at Farnborough was established under
Abbot Fernand Michel Cabrol,
Prior of the Abbey
of Solesmes. Inspired by the spirit of
Dom Prosper Guéranger,
the founder of Solesmes, and prompted by the
anti-clerical climate of France in the 1890's, Cabrol brought to Farnborough a community of monks completely
dedicated to the service of God in the performance and study of the Sacred Liturgy.
The monks increased in number with the formal exile of monks from France in 1903, and the original red-brick
house was extended to accommodate the growing community. Numbers declined again when many of the monks
returned to France for active service in the First World War.
In 1922, the monks were permitted to re-establish the monastery at Solesmes and it became increasingly
difficult to tempt French novices to join an abbey in Hampshire, and so it was decided that the monastery
should be placed under the control of English monks.
In 1947 a little band of monks came from Prinknash Abbey near Gloucester to join the remaining members of
the French community and continue unbroken the monastic life here. Their own story was a fascinating one.
Founded originally on Caldey Island off the Welsh coast as an attempt to form a community of monks in the
Church of England, their move to Prinknash Abbey followed their conversion 'en masse' to the Catholic Church.
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