Sussex Links

Sussex has Benedictine links in the past. Only a few decades after St.Augustine landed in Kent in 597, a prominent Benedictine, Wilfrid of York, brought the Gospel to the kingdom of the South Saxons (Sussex) about which the Venerable Bede gives a charming account. Ten Benedictine houses existed in Sussex until the dissolution of the monasteries (1540), of which the chief were Battle Abbey and Lewes and Boxgrove Priories. One of the nine English Benedictines who were arrested and executed under the penal laws in the seventeenth century was a Sussex man, George Gervase.

Foundation from Downside

The new Benedictine foundation in Sussex in 1933 arose out of the needs of Downside Abbey, near Bath. The Abbot of St.Gregory's, Downside, from 1929 to 1934 was Dom John Chapman. Abbot Chapman was well known as a scholar and as a spiritual guide. His "Spiritual Letters", published after his death, are still known to many today. Chapman felt there was a need to make a foundation from Downside where the numbers of the monastic community had outgrown their buildings. He also wished to move the Junior School of Downside to more adequate buildings.

Choice of Site

With these aims in view, some thirty locations were examined before deciding on a large country house called Paddockhurst in the Sussex Weald. The house was formerly the property of the first Lord Cowdray who had died in 1927. The house lay in landscaped grounds surrounded by woods and fields and with a distant view over rolling countryside to the South Downs. The land immediately around the house was included in the sale along with farm buildings, workshops and cottages. Most of the land, woods and farms, of the huge estate were retained by the family and is still known as Paddockhurst Estate.

A Name and Dedication

The problem immediately arose of a name. The conditions of sale laid down that the name 'Paddockhurst' should not be used by the monks. Much of the property lay within the boundaries of Worth parish. The village of Worth (where, incidentally, the parish church is one of the few churches dating from Anglo-Saxon times) lies about three miles to the north. Although Turners Hill is nearer, it seemed appropriate to call the new foundation being dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Prior of the new monastery, Dom Anselm Rutherford, fancied a patronal feast day in the month of May and came up with "Our Lady, Help of Christians" which used to be celebrated on May 24th.

Early Days

Prior Rutherford, a man of firm monastic principles, set out from the first to have as full a monastic community as possible at Worth Priory. So when the full number of seventeen monks from Downside arrived in September 1933, they found that the former Winter Garden had been adapted as the church of the Priory, with choir stalls brought from Downside and with an impressive altar and baldachino (canopy). Life began with Vespers (Evensong) on 28th September 1933. The community lived in the former grooms' quarters beside the clocktower (now St.Bede's House), while a monastery wing was run up. The latter was conveniently placed beside the Winter-Garden-Turned-Church. This first monastery was a temporary building (demolished 1985) using the garden wall as the lower storey of its south side, making do with fibre-board partitions inside. A small library also went up as a place of study and to house a growing collection of books.

Meanwhile the mansion itself was prepared for the school which began as Worth Preparatory School, the junior school Downside. The surrounding countryside was perfect for children of eight to thirteen and a source of endless fun and delight. Some alterations to the house had to be made for classrooms and dormitories. The number of boys rose from 60 to just short of 100 when war broke out in 1939.

The War and After

With the outbreak of war, five of the monks went as chaplains to the forces, while the remainder and the school were withdrawn to Downside for the duration of the war. One monk remained as caretaker. The buildings were used first for evacuees, a convent school from Liverpool which unwisely returned before the bombing began. Then the buildings were used by the army, first the Canadians (who are reputed to have saved the front gates from being removed for scrap metal) and then the British. The VIIIth British Corps (consisting of the Guards Armoured Division, 11th Armoured Division and15th Scottish Division) under Lieutenant-General Sir Richard O'Connor planned its part in the invasion of Europe on D-Day in this house. Their Map Room is now known as O'Connor Dormitory.

The gates the Canadian troops are reputed to have saved.

Life was resumed at Worth after the war in September 1945. The next twelve years witnessed the phenomenal success of Worth Preparatory School. Numbers rose to 256 boys between eight and thirteen which meant that the school was the second largest preparatory school in the country. Academic and athletic standards were high. At the same time, there was growing unease in the monastic community about the future of the monastery. Monks were continually moved between Worth and Downside. There had been three changes of Superiors and three of Headmasters between 1933 and 1939.