Launde Abbey

General information

Launde Abbey is located in Leicestershire, England, 14 miles east of the city of Leicester and six miles south west of Oakham, Rutland. The building is used as a conference and retreat centre by the Church of England dioceses of Leicester and Peterborough.HistoryThe abbey is an Elizabethan manor house, extensively modified, originally built on the site of an Augustinian priory, Launde Priory. The original priory was founded before 1125 (in 1119 according to a modern inscription in the reception hall) by Richard Basset and his wife Matilda (née Ridel). Its revenues at the dissolution of the monasteries were £510-16-1d and payments £117-12-10d (annual value almost £400).Launde is set in countryside in the valley of the River Chater. Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's chief minister responsible for the dissolution of the monasteries, so liked its position that he wrote in his diary "Myself for Launde". But Cromwell never occupied the house as he was executed in 1540 for treason. In that same year the building of the new house commenced. His son, Gregory, lived at Launde Abbey for ten years after its construction with his wife, Elizabeth, the sister of Jane Seymour the third wife of Henry VIII. In 1603 Launde was acquired by William Smith and in 1763 Dorothy Jennings sold it to John Simpson; in 1828, Mary Finch Simpson married Edward Dawson (1802-1859) of Long Whatton who by this marriage acquired Launde. They engaged Thomas Rickman to restore the house from 1829 to 1839. The Dawsons continued to own the estate throughout the 19th century.