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106-609: Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede , Surrey , England, 18 miles (29 km) southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey , founded in AD 666 by St Erkenwald , and gained a market charter from Henry I . A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in the early 15th century. The River Bourne through the town meets the Thames at Weybridge. The Anglican church has

212-422: A parapet (flat/almost flat) roof. Carved stone vases ornament the masonry in the corners; a band of rendering marks off the first floor. A large centre first floor window is arched with stone keystone and impost blocks, radial bars at its head. Other windows are all sash windows with bars; 12 paned. Its entrance door has a Regency period framing of its door . Wood panelling with subdued embellishment decorates

318-522: A "Superior General". Each Benedictine congregation is autonomous and governed by an abbot or abbess. The autonomous houses are characterised by their chosen charism or specific dedication to a particular devotion. For example, In 1313 Bernardo Tolomei established the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet . The community adopted the Rule of Saint Benedict and received canonical approval in 1344. The Olivetans are part of

424-533: A 3G sports pitch, which it shares with its neighbours, Abbey Rangers Football Club. Borough of Runnymede The Borough of Runnymede is a local government district with borough status in Surrey , England. Its council is based in Addlestone and the borough also includes the towns of Chertsey and Egham . The borough is named after Runnymede , a water meadow on the banks of the River Thames near Egham, which

530-473: A 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister, Scholastica , possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit . They retained a close relationship until her death. Despite being called an order, the Benedictines do not operate under a single hierarchy. They are instead organized as

636-501: A coalition of Labour , Liberal Democrats , Greens and independent councillors formed to run the council. The first elections to the council were held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements came into effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Runnymede. Political leadership

742-545: A collection of autonomous monasteries and convents, some known as abbeys . The order is represented internationally by the Benedictine Confederation , an organization set up in 1893 to represent the order's shared interests. They do not have a superior general or motherhouse with universal jurisdiction but elect an Abbot Primate to represent themselves to the Vatican and to the world. Benedictine nuns are given

848-422: A doorway with a rectangular fanlight, approached by a horse-shoe shaped stair connected with doorway by a bridge, beneath which is the service entrance to the ground floor below. Two fronts are prolonged in the same style by large modern additions. Entrance has a good hall with screen of four Ionic columns and a high plaster ceiling. Other good ceilings and doorcases to principal rooms on 1st floor. Bournewood House

954-453: A farmhouse, but once the manorial mansion, in which Henry VI resided when a child. ...county debt-court of Chertsey, established in 1847... The parish comprises about 10,020 acres [4,050 ha]. The living is a vicarage, valued in the king's books at £13. 12. 4.; net income, £307; patrons, alternately, the Haberdashers' Company , and the governors of Christ's Hospital ; impropriators ,

1060-556: A few different places, namely the sacristy , which contained books for the choir and other liturgical books, the rectory , which housed books for public reading such as sermons and lives of the saints, and the library , which contained the largest collection of books and was typically in the cloister. The first record of a monastic library in England is in Canterbury . To assist with Augustine of Canterbury 's English mission , Pope Gregory

1166-509: A hunting lodge, was officially returned to the Benedictines four hundred years later, in 1928. During the next few years, so-called Prinknash Park was used as a home until it was returned to the order. St. Lawrence's Abbey in Ampleforth, Yorkshire was founded in 1802. In 1955, Ampleforth set up a daughter house, a priory at St. Louis, Missouri which became independent in 1973 and became Saint Louis Abbey in its own right in 1989. As of 2015,

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1272-629: A life of exploitation, others dedicated to the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament such as the one established by Catherine de Bar (1614–1698). In 1688 Dame Mechtilde de Bar assisted Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien , queen consort of Poland, to establish a Benedictine foundation in Warsaw . Abbeys were among the institutions of the Catholic Church swept away during

1378-414: A low weight limit and narrow carriageways inappropriate to HGVs, which have Staines Bridge , Walton Bridge or motorway alternatives to reach Spelthorne . Samuel Lewis included it in his opening description of the town above: "...[River Thames] over which is a handsome stone bridge of seven arches, built in 1785, at an expense of £13,000, defrayed jointly by the counties of Surrey and Middlesex ..." It

1484-767: A mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict . Initiated in 529, they are the oldest of all the religious orders in the Latin Church . The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks , especially in English speaking countries, after the colour of their habits , although some, like the Olivetans , wear white. They were founded by Benedict of Nursia ,

1590-511: A medieval tower and chancel roof. The 18th-century listed buildings include the current stone Chertsey Bridge and Botleys Mansion . A curfew bell , rung at 8pm on weekdays from Michaelmas to Lady Day ties with the romantic local legend of Blanche Heriot , marked by a statue of her and the bell at Chertsey Bridge. Green areas include the Thames Path National Trail , Chertsey Meads and a round knoll (St Ann's Hill) with remains of

1696-485: A monastic manner of life, drawing on the Vulgate 's use of conversatio as indicating "citizenship" or "local customs", see Philippians 3:20. The Rule enjoins monks and nuns "to live in this place as a religious, in obedience to its rule and to the abbot or abbess." Benedictine abbots and abbesses have jurisdiction over their abbey and thus canonical authority over the monks or nuns who are resident. This authority includes

1802-423: A particular foundation in a particular location. Not being bound by location, the mendicants were better able to respond to an increasingly "urban" environment. This decline was further exacerbated by the practice of appointing a commendatory abbot, a lay person, appointed by a noble to oversee and to protect the assets of the monastery. Often, however, this resulted in the appropriation of the assets of monasteries at

1908-409: A pediment above and their original glazing bars intact. Ground floor windows have keystones. Upper windows have moulded architraves, those on 1st floor with cornices over, the centre one with a pediment. On the north front, the centre projection has four engaged Ionic columns with a pediment above containing a cartouche flanked by swags of husks; a piano nobile to one side connects the middle floor with

2014-463: A prehistoric hill fort known as Eldebury Hill. Pyrcroft House dates from the 18th century and Tara from the late 20th. Train services are run between Chertsey railway station and London Waterloo by South Western Railway . The town is within the M25 , accessible via junction 11. It has a population of 15,967. The first written mention of Chertsey is by Bede c.  750 , in which he describes

2120-401: A reference to ritual purification , which is inspired by Benedict's encouragement of bathing . Benedictine monks have played a role in the development and promotion of spas . Benedictine monasticism differs from other Christian religious orders in that as congregations sometimes with several houses, some of them in other countries, they are not bound into a unified religious order headed by

2226-851: A start of a southern variant of the Thames Path on the south bank from where the path crosses the river at Chertsey Bridge. On the north of this park is the main Thameside development, the Bridge Wharf estate, through which passes this strand of the Thames Path, the long northern border then follows the Thames towards Addlestone to the confluence, by private houses, on the south side of the River Bourne, Chertsey . Narrower parks and allotments, interspersed by relatively few developments, follow this brook upstream through

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2332-612: A template for explaining child deaths. According to historian Joe Hillaby, the blood libel of Harold was crucially important because for the first time an unexplained child death occurring near the Easter festival was arbitrarily linked to Jews in the vicinity by local Christian churchmen: "they established a pattern quickly taken up elsewhere. Within three years the first ritual murder charge was made in France." The forty-eighth Rule of Saint Benedict prescribes extensive and habitual "holy reading" for

2438-487: A tile roof, nipped. A moulded wood eaves cornice, altered, has supporting brackets. Five sash windows with bars make up the windows. A central entrance encased door has an open pediment in the Tuscan order with flat pilasters . Radial bars segment its arched fanlight . At the top floor is a stone moulded band; the middle floor band is also rendered; the ground floor band is lined and painted. Red gauged brick flat arches top

2544-428: Is Ora et Labora "pray and work". Although Benedictines do not take a vow of silence, hours of strict silence are set, and at other times silence is maintained as much as is practically possible. Social conversations tend to be limited to communal recreation times. Such details, like other aspects of the daily routine of a Benedictine house are left to the discretion of the superior, and are set out in its customary ,

2650-401: Is Grade II* listed building. Curfew House is four narrow houses west of the church, a taller red brick building in a group of five buildings of the same era; the name derives from the cruel King John and Blanche Heriot history and story which took place in the town centre. Below an open pediment are brick pilasters with moulded wood cornice , with dentils . Brick-coped gable ends front

2756-661: Is a short distance above it on the opposite side. On the south west corner of the bridge is a bronze statue of local heroine Blanche Heriot striking the bell by Sheila Mitchell. The summit of St Ann's Hill in Chertsey was a vital viewing point for the Anglo-French Survey , which calculated the distance between the Royal Greenwich Observatory and the Paris Observatory using trigonometry . A grid of triangles

2862-552: Is also made in the neighbourhood. The town is about three miles [5 km] from the Weybridge station...an act was passed in 1846 for a branch railway... The river Wey Navigation and canal passes...two miles [3 km] [away from Chertsey]...conveyance for the several articles of manufacture, and for large quantities of vegetables, which are cultivated in the environs for the London market. The market, chartered by Queen Elizabeth in 1559,

2968-650: Is another camping site at Laleham Park on the opposite bank of the Thames. Annually, in early August, the Chertsey Agricultural Show is held here. This 7.25" gauge miniature railway, off Hardwick Lane, opened in September 1968. This is an annual event on the 2nd Saturday of July each year with live music and refreshments. Schools in Chertsey include; Chertsey High School is a non-faith school which welcomes children from different faiths and non-faith backgrounds, whilst maintaining strong Christian principles;

3074-478: Is capped by Bracklesham Clays with a thick pebble bed. South west of the town centre, the chert and flint pebble deposits at Cockcrow Hill and Sandgates were probably deposited by an earlier course of The Bourne. Aside from being a London "commuter town", Chertsey is home to the head office of Compass Group , and the UK head office and European headquarters of Samsung Electronics . Samsung moved there in 2005; previously

3180-615: Is connected with the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in 1215. It is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt , having some of the most expensive housing in the United Kingdom outside central London, such as the Wentworth Estate at Virginia Water . The M25 motorway which encircles London runs through the borough, with Addlestone, Chertsey and Egham Hythe being inside the M25. At

3286-508: Is instead provided by the leader or co-leaders of the council . The leaders (or co-leaders) since 1984 have been: Following the 2024 election the composition of the council has been: Of the independent councillors, two (all representing Ottershaw ward) form the "Independent Group", which informally supported the Conservative minority administration between 2023 and 2024. The other two (both representing Englefield Green East) form part of

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3392-460: Is on Wednesday: the fairs are on the first Monday and Tuesday in Lent, for cattle; 14 May, for sheep; and 6 August and 25 September, for toys and pedlery. A court of pie-poudre is attached to the fair in Lent. The county magistrates hold...and headboroughs and other officers are appointed...at the court leet of the lord of the manor, who also holds a court baron on the following day at Hardwick Court , now

3498-514: Is part of Bournewood Park Hospital a central building in a large medical NHS trust adjoining St Peter's Hospital, formerly a nursing wing of the above hospital when it was run from the Victorian period as a mental hospital or asylum retreat. Chertsey has a Non-League football club, Chertsey Town F.C. who play at Alwyns Lane. The town is also home to Dial Square F.C. , who have ground-shared with The Curfews since August 2022. Chertsey Meads adjoin

3604-464: Is richly endowed with listed buildings most of which date from the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to the more than 56 numbered houses/shops (42 buildings) nationally listed buildings , nine other buildings in the conservation area are locally listed. A further 11 buildings outside the centre are also nationally listed. Elevation is generally low at 14m in the Town Centre and 11 m on

3710-440: The 2021 Census , the population of the borough was 87,739. With a GDP per capita of £87,277 it is the sixth wealthiest borough in the UK, being the wealthiest outside of London. The UK Competitiveness Index ranks it as the 8th most economically competitive area in the UK, with only London boroughs ahead. The neighbouring districts are Spelthorne , Elmbridge , Woking , Surrey Heath and Windsor and Maidenhead . The district

3816-562: The Benedictine Confederation . Although Benedictines are traditionally Catholic, there are also other communities that follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. For example, of an estimated 2,400 celibate Anglican religious (1,080 men and 1,320 women) in the Anglican Communion as a whole, some have adopted the Rule of Benedict. Likewise, such communities can be found in Eastern Orthodox Church , and Lutheran Church . Members of

3922-475: The Benedictine Rule . Rule 38 states that 'these brothers' meals should usually be accompanied by reading, and that they were to eat and drink in silence while one read out loud. Benedictine monks were not allowed worldly possessions, thus necessitating the preservation and collection of sacred texts in monastic libraries for communal use. For the sake of convenience, the books in the monastery were housed in

4028-512: The Camaldolese community. The Cistercians branched off from the Benedictines in 1098; they are often called the "White monks". The dominance of the Benedictine monastic way of life began to decline towards the end of the twelfth century, which saw the rise of the mendicant Franciscans and nomadic Dominicans . Benedictines by contrast, took a vow of "stability", which professed loyalty to

4134-540: The Chapel Royal . At the dissolution , its [annual] revenue was £774. 13. 6.: some portions of the outer walls remain, and on the site, and with part of the materials, of the abbey, a private mansion, called the Abbey House, was erected, but this was pulled down some years ago. The town is pleasantly situated upon the Thames...the houses are in general neatly built of brick; the streets are partially paved, and lighted, and

4240-1121: The English Reformation . A stone's throw from Marble Arch , the Tyburn Convent is now the Mother House of the Congregation. Benedictines are thought to have arrived in the Kingdom of Poland in the 11th-century. One of the earliest foundations is Tyniec Abbey on a promontory by the Vistula river. The Tyniec monks led the translation of the Bible into Polish vernacular. Other surviving Benedictine houses can be found in Stary Kraków Village , Biskupów , Lubiń . Older foundations are in Mogilno , Trzemeszno , Łęczyca , Łysa Góra and in Opactwo , among others. In

4346-741: The French Revolution . Monasteries and convents were again allowed to form in the 19th century under the Bourbon Restoration . Later that century, under the Third French Republic , laws were enacted preventing religious teaching. The original intent was to allow secular schools. Thus in 1880 and 1882, Benedictine teaching monks were effectively exiled; this was not completed until 1901. In 1898 Marie-Adèle Garnier, in religion, Mother Marie de Saint-Pierre, founded in Montmartre ( Mount of

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4452-569: The Heptarchy , the South Saxon kings had their residence in this town; and it became noted for a Benedictine monastery, founded in 666 by Erkenwald ...which, having been burnt to the ground in the war with the Danes, was refounded by King Edgar, and dedicated to St. Peter. In this abbey Henry VI was privately interred; but his remains were subsequently removed, and deposited, with appropriate solemnities, in

4558-724: The Middle Ages the city of Płock , also on the Vistula, had a successful monastery, which played a significant role in the local economy. In the 18th-century benedictine convents were opened for women, notably in Warsaw's New Town. A 15th-century Benedictine foundation can be found in Senieji Trakai , a village in Eastern Lithuania . Kloster Rheinau was a Benedictine monastery in Rheinau in

4664-688: The Vatican and to the world. The headquarters of the Benedictine Confederation and the Abbot Primate is the Primatial Abbey of Sant'Anselmo built by Pope Leo XIII in Rome . The Rule of Saint Benedict is also used by a number of religious orders that began as reforms of the Benedictine tradition such as the Cistercians and Trappists . These groups are separate congregations and not members of

4770-643: The 19th century a prosperous bell foundry, Eldridge, was in Windsor Street. Herrings, an iron foundry, flourished during the 19th century and was situated in Gogmore Lane. The Chertsey troop of the Berkshire Yeomanry occupied the Drill Hall on Drill Hall Road since 1977. The unit has close ties with the borough and was granted the freedom of Runnymede in 2009. The Drill Hall closed at the end of March 2010 and

4876-668: The Benedictine Confederation. Other specialisms, such as Gregorian chant as at Solesmes in France, or Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Sacrament have been adopted by different houses, as at the Warsaw Convent, or the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre at Tyburn Convent in London. Other houses have dedicated themselves to books, reading, writing and printing them as at Stanbrook Abbey in England. Others still are associated with

4982-612: The Canton of Zürich, Switzerland, founded in about 778. The abbey of Our Lady of the Angels was founded in 1120. The English Benedictine Congregation is the oldest of the nineteen Benedictine congregations. Through the influence of Wilfrid , Benedict Biscop , and Dunstan , the Benedictine Rule spread rapidly, and in the North it was adopted in most of the monasteries that had been founded by

5088-405: The Celtic missionaries from Iona. Many of the episcopal sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines, and no fewer than nine of the old cathedrals were served by the black monks of the priories attached to them. Monasteries served as hospitals and places of refuge for the weak and homeless. The monks studied the healing properties of plants and minerals to alleviate the sufferings of

5194-447: The Douglas family, the latter based in Egham) St. Peter's Hospital , originally intended to serve casualties of World War II , formally came into being on 12 September 1939. It now has 400 beds and a wide range of acute care services, on the straight A road to Woking close to the much younger parish of Ottershaw. Hospital Radio Wey has been broadcasting to the patients and staff of St Peter's Hospital since 1965 and now also broadcasts on

5300-420: The English Congregation consists of three abbeys of nuns and ten abbeys of monks. Members of the congregation are found in England, Wales, the United States of America, Peru and Zimbabwe. In England there are also houses of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation : Farnborough, Prinknash, and Chilworth: the Solesmes Congregation , Quarr and St Cecilia's on the Isle of Wight, as well as a diocesan monastery following

5406-409: The Great gave him nine books which included the Gregorian Bible in two volumes, the Psalter of Augustine, two copies of the Gospels , two martyrologies , an Exposition of the Gospels and Epistles, and a Psalter . Theodore of Tarsus brought Greek books to Canterbury more than seventy years later, when he founded a school for the study of Greek. The first Benedictine to live in the United States

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5512-428: The Lombards about the year 580, the monks fled to Rome, and it seems probable that this constituted an important factor in the diffusion of a knowledge of Benedictine monasticism. Copies of Benedict's Rule survived; around 594 Pope Gregory I spoke favorably of it. The rule is subsequently found in some monasteries in southern Gaul along with other rules used by abbots. Gregory of Tours says that at Ainay Abbey , in

5618-454: The Martyr ), Paris a Benedictine house. However, the Waldeck-Rousseau 's Law of Associations , passed in 1901, placed severe restrictions on religious bodies which were obliged to leave France. Garnier and her community relocated to another place associated with executions, this time it was in London , near the site of Tyburn tree where 105 Catholic martyrs—including Saint Oliver Plunkett and Saint Edmund Campion had been executed during

5724-423: The River Thames at Chertsey Bridge, making it the lowest place in Chertsey. The highest point is on the peak of wooded and inhabited St. Ann's Hill which reaches an elevation of 77 m, making it the second-highest point in Runnymede . Across Chertsey bridge, pictured, on the Middlesex side of the river is the Thames Path National Trail and Chertsey Lock . Chertsey town centre lies on a floodplain terrace between

5830-401: The River Thames to the north and The Bourne to the south. Much of the terrace consists of river gravels deposited on the sandy Bagshot Beds, which in turn overlie the London Clay. The soil in this area is loamy and the water table is naturally high. St Ann's Hill appears as an island of Tertiary strata, surrounded by river deposits. The hill is composed primarily of the Bagshot Beds, but

5936-453: The Rule of Saint Benedict: The Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury. Since the Oxford Movement , there has also been a modest flourishing of Benedictine monasticism in the Anglican Church and Protestant Churches. Anglican Benedictine Abbots are invited guests of the Benedictine Abbot Primate in Rome at Abbatial gatherings at Sant'Anselmo. In 1168 local Benedictine monks instigated the anti-semitic blood libel of Harold of Gloucester as

6042-450: The Samsung offices were in New Malden . Thorpe Park , part of Merlin Entertainments Ltd, is on the northern boundary, connected by frequent buses from Staines-upon-Thames and Chertsey. Chertsey Bridge is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and Grade II* listed structure that has a listed City (of London tax) Post at one end, and nearby milestones. It is predominantly of ashlar light stone with two white flagstone york stone pavements with

6148-412: The abbey to construct his palace at Oatlands Palace ; the villagers also used stone for raising the streets. By the late 17th century, only some outer walls of the abbey remained. During this period until at least 1911 a wider area was included in Chertsey: Ottershaw (and Brox) was an ecclesiastical district; whose church-sponsored (first built) schools were built in 1870, so too was Addlestone . Today

6254-409: The abbeys of Alpirsbach (1099), Ettenheimm ünster (1124) and Sulzburg ( c.  1125 ), and the priories of Weitenau (now part of Steinen , c.  1100 ), Bürgel (before 1130) and Sitzenkirch ( c.  1130 ). Fleury Abbey in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire , Loiret was founded in about 640. It is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, and possesses

6360-480: The borough are provided by South Western Railway on the Waterloo–Reading line and the Chertsey branch line . Runnymede is twinned with Bergisch Gladbach , situated 10 miles east of Cologne; Herndon, Virginia , about 20 miles west of Washington, D.C.; and Joinville-le-Pont , located to the east of Paris. Benedictine The Benedictines , officially the Order of Saint Benedict ( Latin : Ordo Sancti Benedicti , abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB ), are

6466-405: The brethren. Three primary types of reading were done by the monks in medieval times. Monks would read privately during their personal time, as well as publicly during services and at mealtimes. In addition to these three mentioned in the Rule, monks would also read in the infirmary. Monasteries were thriving centers of education, with monks and nuns actively encouraged to learn and pray according to

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6572-416: The code adopted by a particular Benedictine house by adapting the Rule to local conditions. According to the norms of the 1983 Code of Canon Law , a Benedictine abbey is a " religious institute " and its members therefore participate in consecrated life which Canon 588 §1 explains is intrinsically "neither clerical nor lay." Males in consecrated life, however, may be ordained. Benedictines' rules contain

6678-405: The county town, Guildford. The traditional, yet commercially important town centre is a conservation area, joined by an arcade to a medium-sized supermarket and car park to the south. The character of this central area is that of a traditional small town, with relatively narrow building frontages set hard up against the pavement, so that they clearly define the public space. The centre of the town

6784-461: The daughter of the first Christian King of Kent . Currently the priory is home to a community of Benedictine nuns. Five of the most notable English abbeys are the Basilica of St Gregory the Great at Downside, commonly known as Downside Abbey , The Abbey of St Edmund, King and Martyr commonly known as Douai Abbey in Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berkshire, Ealing Abbey in Ealing, West London, and Worth Abbey . Prinknash Abbey , used by Henry VIII as

6890-439: The day of a medieval monk. In the Middle Ages monasteries were often founded by the nobility. Cluny Abbey was founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine , in 910. The abbey was noted for its strict adherence to the Rule of Saint Benedict. The abbot of Cluny was the superior of all the daughter houses, through appointed priors. One of the earliest reforms of Benedictine practice was that initiated in 980 by Romuald , who founded

6996-436: The earlier codes. By the ninth century, however, the Benedictine had become the standard form of monastic life throughout the whole of Western Europe, excepting Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where the Celtic observance still prevailed for another century or two. Largely through the work of Benedict of Aniane , it became the rule of choice for monasteries throughout the Carolingian empire. Monastic scriptoria flourished from

7102-412: The expense of the community which they were intended to support. Saint Blaise Abbey in the Black Forest of Baden-Württemberg is believed to have been founded around the latter part of the tenth century. Between 1070 and 1073 there seem to have been contacts between St. Blaise and the Cluniac Abbey of Fruttuaria in Italy, which led to St. Blaise following the Fruttuarian reforms. The Empress Agnes

7208-430: The farmhouse of the Hardwick in the elevated southwest is of 16th-century construction. It grew to all sides but the north around Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 A.D. by Eorcenwald, Bishop of London , using a donation by Frithwald . Until the end of use of the hundreds , used in the feudal system until the establishment of Rural Districts and Urban District Councils , the name chosen for the wider Chertsey area hundred

7314-477: The fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections. The council is based at Runnymede Civic Centre on Station Road in Addlestone . The new building cost a reported £12.6m and opened in May 2008. The council's former offices were on the adjoining site and were subsequently demolished to make way for a retail development. The M25 motorway runs through Runnymede from south to north, with junctions at Chertsey and Egham, while train services in

7420-404: The hall, 20 ploughs , 80 hectares of meadow , woodland worth 50 hogs . It rendered a larger than average sum for the book of manor and ecclesiastical parish entries, £22. The abbey grew to become one of the largest Benedictine abbeys in England, supported by large fiefs in the northwest corner of Sussex and Surrey until it was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536. The King took stone from

7526-452: The history of the abbey is reflected in local place names and the surviving former fishponds that fill with water after heavy rain. The nearby Hardwick Court Farm , now much reduced in size and cut off from the town by the M25, has the successor to the abbey's large and well-supported 15th-century tithe barn, mostly rebuilt in the 17th century. The eighteenth-century Chertsey Bridge provides an important cross-river link, and Chertsey Lock

7632-473: The inhabitants are plentifully supplied with water from springs. A neat building, of which the first stone was laid in November 1838, by the high sheriff of the county , has been erected for a literary and scientific institution. The trade is principally in malt and flour; the manufacture of coarse thread, and the making of iron-hoops and brooms, are carried on to a considerable extent; and a great quantity of bricks

7738-474: The internet as RadioWey. St Peter's church has a 13th/14th-century west tower (with 18th-century bricks above the belfry) and east chancel; a collection of the abbey's paving tiles is in its sanctuary; several are also in the British Museum and a 15th-century chancel roof. St Peter's is surrounded by many Grade II listed buildings in the three mixed shopping and residential streets of the town centre however

7844-613: The landowners. The church, a handsome structure in the later English style, with a square embattled tower, was built with money raised on annuities, in 1808; it contains a tablet to the memory of the celebrated orator and statesman, Charles James Fox , and several monuments to the Mawbey family. A church has been built at Addlestone and...Independents and Methodists. A school was founded in 1725, by Sir William Perkins , who endowed it with £3000 Bank stock, which sum, augmented by an accumulating annual surplus, produces at present nearly £400 per annum;

7950-517: The level crossing from the site of the original one, was opened on 10 October 1866 by the London and South Western Railway. The Southern Railway completed electrification of the line on 3 January 1937. Samuel Lewis devotes one of his longest entries to the small town in his 1848 topographical guide to England: ...a market-town and parish, and the head of a union ... 13 miles [21 km] (N. N. E.) from Guildford , and 20 [miles (30 km)] (W. S. W.) from London; containing 5347 inhabitants. During

8056-496: The location as Cerotaesei, id est Ceroti insula (translated as "Chertsey, that is the island of Cerotus "). The settlement appears in 13th-century copies of 7th-century charters as Cirotesige , Cirotesge and Cerotesge . The manor is recorded as Certesi in Domesday Book in 1086 and as Certeseye in 1129–30. Other later forms include Charteseye (mid-14th century), Charsey (in 1543) and Chutsey (in 1606). The first use of

8162-449: The majority administration group. The next election is due in 2026. Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 41 councillors representing 14 wards with each ward electing three councillors except Englefield Green East which elects two. Elections are held three years out of every four, with roughly a third of the council elected each time for a four-year term of office. Surrey County Council elections are held in

8268-470: The modern spelling "Chertsey" is from 1559. The first part of the toponym "Chertsey" is thought to refer to a Celtic individual, whose name was subsequently Latinised to Cerotus . The second part derives from the Old English ēg and means "island or well-watered land". Chertsey is one of the oldest market towns in England. Its Church of England parish church dates to the 12th century (see below) and

8374-410: The ninth through the twelfth centuries. Sacred Scripture was always at the heart of every monastic scriptorium. As a general rule those of the monks who possessed skill as writers made this their chief, if not their sole, active work. An anonymous writer of the ninth or tenth century speaks of six hours a day as the usual task of a scribe, which would absorb almost all the time available for active work in

8480-418: The places where they were founded or their founders centuries ago, hence Cassinese , Subiaco , Camaldolese or Sylvestrines . All Benedictine houses became federated in the Benedictine Confederation brought into existence by Pope Leo XIII 's Apostolic Brief " Summum semper " on 12 July 1893. Pope Leo also established the office of Abbot Primate as the abbot elected to represent this Confederation at

8586-500: The power to assign duties, to decide which books may or may not be read, to regulate comings and goings, and to punish and to excommunicate , in the sense of an enforced isolation from the monastic community. A tight communal timetable – the horarium  – is meant to ensure that the time given by God is not wasted but used in God's service, whether for prayer, work, meals, spiritual reading or sleep. The order's motto

8692-502: The relics of St. Benedict. Like many Benedictine abbeys it was located on the banks of a river, here the Loire . Ainey Abbey is a ninth century foundation on the Lyon peninsula. In the twelfth century on the current site there was a romanesque monastery , subsequently rebuilt. The seventeenth century saw a number of Benedictine foundations for women, some dedicated to the indigent to save them from

8798-418: The residence of...Fox, and in which are some tessellated pavements, collected from the ruins of the abbey: the water of St. Ann's Well was once in repute for its efficacy in curing diseases of the eye. The poet Cowley lived for some time in an ancient house in the town, called Cowley House, in which he died; and Mr. Day, author of Sandford and Merton, resided in the vicinity. Chertsey Regatta has been held on

8904-503: The river for over 150 years, which is in the non-Olympic regional sport of skiffing which has a club on this reach of river. Similarly the Olympic sport of rowing (in racing shells ) has an annual Burway Regatta above Chertsey Lock , an area of former flood meadow , reservoirs and golf course. The Burway was in the medieval period let out by the abbey as over 200 acres (0.81 km) of grazing pasture (and remains postally associated with

9010-444: The rooms. Owner Joseph Mawbey had architect Kenton Couse build this substantial Georgian building surrounded by a manicured estate, now a private nursing home. U-shaped it is a rectangle of three storeys with seven windows to each of the four fronts, built of ashlar its ground floor is rusticated with a modillion eaves cornice; a parapet roof tops the structure. Each front has three centre window bays that project slightly with

9116-456: The same community), and to adopt a "conversion of habits", in Latin, conversatio morum and obedience to the community's superior. The "Benedictine vows" are equivalent to the evangelical counsels accepted by all candidates entering a religious order . The interpretation of conversatio morum understood as "conversion of the habits of life" has generally been replaced by notions such as adoption of

9222-477: The same lineage. For instance the American-Cassinese congregation included the 22 monasteries descended from Boniface Wimmer. A sense of community has been the defining characteristic of the order since the beginning. To that end, section 17 in chapter 58 of the Rule of Saint Benedict specifies the solemn vows candidates joining a Benedictine community are required to make: a vow of stability, to remain in

9328-522: The school ethos is Knowledge, Determination and Love . It opened in 2017 using the buildings that remained from the original Meads School, built in 1965. During a two-year occupancy, a new school building was developed alongside, opposite Clay Corner on the Chertsey Road. In 2019, the new school building opened its doors to 450 students, and has the capacity for 900 students over the coming years. The school has developed state-of-the-art facilities, including

9434-430: The school has been extended upon the national plan. The tolls and profits arising from stallage in the market and fairs were granted by Queen Elizabeth to the poor, for whose benefit there are various other charitable benefactions, among them a sum of nearly £4000, left by Miss Mary Giles, who died in 1841. The union...contains a population of 14,929. Near the town is St. Ann's Hill, commanding an extensive prospect, formerly

9540-575: The sick. During the English Reformation , all monasteries were dissolved and their lands confiscated by the Crown, forcing those who wished to continue in the monastic life to flee into exile on the Continent. During the 19th century English members of these communities were able to return to England. St. Mildred's Priory , on the Isle of Thanet , Kent , was built in 1027 on the site of an abbey founded in 670 by

9646-446: The sixth century, the monks "followed the rules of Basil, Cassian, Caesarius, and other fathers, taking and using whatever seemed proper to the conditions of time and place", and doubtless the same liberty was taken with the Benedictine Rule when it reached them. In Gaul and Switzerland, it gradually supplemented the much stricter Irish or Celtic Rule introduced by Columbanus and others. In many monasteries it eventually entirely displaced

9752-399: The street. Enriched wood architrave features as part of its entrance door and reeded panels with raised centres. Its keystone is dated 1725 , inside a Tympanum is inscribed: "c5 Founded by Sr Wm PERKINS KBE For Fifty Children clothed and taught Go and do likewise". 25 Windsor Street is also at Grade II* architecturally, early C18 however a larger three-storey house in brown brick with

9858-970: The time of his death in 1887, Wimmer had sent Benedictine monks to Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Illinois, and Colorado. Wimmer also asked for Benedictine sisters to be sent to America by St. Walburg Convent in Eichstätt , Bavaria. In 1852, Sister Benedicta Riepp and two other sisters founded St. Marys, Pennsylvania . Soon they would send sisters to Michigan, New Jersey, and Minnesota. By 1854, Swiss monks began to arrive and founded St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana, and they soon spread to Arkansas and Louisiana. They were soon followed by Swiss sisters. There are now over 100 Benedictine houses across America. Most Benedictine houses are part of one of four large Congregations: American-Cassinese, Swiss-American, St. Scholastica, and St. Benedict. The congregations mostly are made up of monasteries that share

9964-500: The title Dame in preference to Sister . The monastery at Subiaco in Italy, established by Benedict of Nursia c. 529, was the first of the dozen monasteries he founded. He later founded the Abbey of Monte Cassino . There is no evidence, however, that he intended to found an order and the Rule of Saint Benedict presupposes the autonomy of each community. When Monte Cassino was sacked by

10070-466: The town centre, which rises a few miles above Virginia Water (the actual lake of the same name as the more recent settlement as a whole) to its north and south. Much of its upper catchment area still remains Crown Estate . Altogether the open space covers 70 hectares (170 acres). Nearby across Bridge Street by the bridge, to the north of this, is the Chertsey Camping and Caravanning Club Site There

10176-497: The town). The Burway faces Laleham Park , the largest municipal park of a neighbouring borough. Chertsey was the home of Charles James Fox , who had wished to be buried there but instead is buried in Westminster Abbey. The nearby estate that is now the large Foxhills Golf Estate, Spa and Restaurant, close to Ottershaw and Lyne , was named in honour of him, but was not his home. A long history of metal working exists, and from

10282-629: The troop had to return to Windsor due to cuts in the Territorial Army in 2009–2010. Chertsey is part of the London commuter belt in the outermost part of the Greater London Urban Area and is served by Chertsey railway station and separated from all adjoining settlements by the buffer of designated areas of Green Belt . Measuring from centre to centre, Chertsey is 29 kilometres (18 mi) from London, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) from Addlestone, and 17.6 kilometres (10.9 mi) from

10388-412: The windows with window dressings and quoins . Its front railings have spearhead bars and metal standards with vases, gadrooned . Pyrcroft House on Pyrcroft Road leading to St Ann's Hill is a Grade II* listed building that was referenced by Nikolaus Pevsner and has a brick front with gauged flat arches to its windows, supplemented by square brick pilasters to the corners. Moulded brick cornice underlies

10494-447: Was Godley Hundred . In the 9th century, the abbey and town were sacked by the Danes , leaving a mark today in the name of the neighbouring village, Thorpe , and refounded as a subsidiary abbey from Abingdon Abbey by King Edgar in 964. Chertsey appears in the Domesday Book as Certesi . It was held partly by Chertsey Abbey and partly by Richard Sturmid from the abbey. Its Domesday assets were: 5 hides , 1 mill and 1 forge at

10600-855: Was Pierre-Joseph Didier. He came to the United States in 1790 from Paris and served in the Ohio and St. Louis areas until his death. The first actual Benedictine monastery founded was Saint Vincent Archabbey , located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania . It was founded in 1832 by Boniface Wimmer , a German monk, who sought to serve German immigrants in America. In 1856, Wimmer started to lay the foundations for St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. In 1876, Herman Wolfe, of Saint Vincent Archabbey established Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. By

10706-536: Was a patron of Fruttuaria, and retired there in 1065 before moving to Rome. The Empress was instrumental in introducing Fruttuaria's Benedictine customs, as practiced at Cluny, to Saint Blaise Abbey in Baden-Württemberg . Other houses either reformed by, or founded as priories of, St. Blasien were Muri Abbey (1082), Ochsenhausen Abbey (1093), Göttweig Abbey (1094), Stein am Rhein Abbey (before 1123) and Prüm Abbey (1132). It also had significant influence on

10812-624: Was appointed Ambassador to France in 1784. He arranged to have the Chertsey cricket team travel to France in 1789 to introduce cricket to the French nobility. However, the team, on arriving at Dover, met the Ambassador returning from France at the outset of the French Revolution and the opportunity was missed. The original Chertsey railway station was built by the London and Southampton Railway and opened on 14 February 1848. The present station, across

10918-399: Was awarded borough status in 1978, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor . Runnymede Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Surrey County Council . There are no civil parishes in the borough, which is an unparished area . The council has been under no overall control since 2023. Following the 2024 election

11024-607: Was built in 1783–1785 by James Paine . Chertsey has an admission-free museum on Windsor Street, which provides considerable information about the history of Chertsey. The museum holds the Olive Matthews costume collection, which is of national importance, contains around three thousand pieces of costume and was donated by Matthews to the museum in 1969. The museum contains clocks by two local makers, James Douglass and Henry Wale Cartwright. (Note however that there were three successive watchmakers called James Douglass (or Douglas) in

11130-484: Was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 , covering two former districts which were both abolished at the same time: The new district was named after the water meadow of Runnymede on the banks of the Thames at Egham on the northern edge of the borough, which is connected with the sealing of Magna Carta by King John in 1215 and is the site of several significant monuments. The district

11236-409: Was measured all the way to the French coast, to join up with the French survey; St Ann's Hill was crucial for the link with the base-line of the English survey on Hounslow Heath . In the 18th century, Chertsey Cricket Club was one of the strongest in the country and beat the rest of England (excluding Hampshire) by more than an innings in 1778. The Duke of Dorset , (who played cricket for Chertsey),

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