Beaulieu Abbey 
THE OLD EARN 
Alter many vicissitudes the glorious Abbey 
was, at the dissolution of the monasteries, 
doomed to destruction, and some of'the mate¬ 
rial was afterwards used to build Hurst Castle 
in the Solent, and the lead from the roobng 
was sent to bnish Calshot Castle, both bne 
coast defences built by Henry VIH. 
1 he Abbey of Beaulieu was granted to Sir 
Thomas Wriotbesley, Lord High Chancellor 
of England, afterwards created Earl of South¬ 
ampton, for the consideration of the sum of 
^2,000. Whether the first Earl of South¬ 
ampton converted the gate-house into a 
residence is not known for certain, hut at any 
rate it was known as Palace House early in 
the seventeenth century, d he present beau¬ 
tiful residence, belonging to J.ord Montagu, 
was built by his father, the late Duke of Buc- 
VILLAGE OF BEAULIEU 
cleuch, some thirty years ago and still bears 
the name of Palace House. It is said that 
Charles I. spent his honeymoon with his 
Oueen, Henrietta Maria, at Beaulieu. 
After the dissolution of the monasteries the 
monks of Beaulieu received pensions suitable 
to their rank and age and departed never to 
return. But notwithstanding the ruthless 
destruction enough still remains of the ruins 
of the Abbey to gladden the eyes and 
interest the minds of many, who from these 
fragments and with the aid of a descrip¬ 
tion of the Abbey in its gloiy, are able to 
put together in their mind’s eye the whole 
of the glorious fabric, and as they do so 
thev cannot fail to lament the malice of 
j 
men who, under cover of religion, demolished 
one of the most beautiful buildinss erected 
O 
In I2o6, the King ordered that a tun of 
wine should be delivered yearly to the Abbot 
of Beaulieu. His mother, Oueen Eleanour, 
was buried here. 
"I he buildings, which were begun on a 
small scale, gradually increased in size so as 
to accommodate the large number of brothers 
who wished to reside there. But John died 
before it was completed, as the solemn service 
of consecration only took place on the 24th 
of June, 1244, in the presence of Henry HE, 
his Queen, and a brilliant retinue. 
Pope Innocent HI. granted it the privilege 
of ‘sanctuary,” which in 1471 was taken 
advantage of by Margaret of Anjou and her 
son Prince Edward, who on landing at Beau¬ 
lieu heard the news of the defeat of their 
adherents at Barnet. In 1496, the Yorkist 
pretender, Perkin Warbeck, in turn took 
refuge at Beaulieu after his defeat at Taun¬ 
ton, but Lord D’Aubigny immediately in¬ 
vested the Abbey with three hundred horse, 
and compelled him to surrender. 
