Mount St Bernard Abbey Route Summary A circular walk around Whitlock quarry starting and finishing at Mount St Bernard's Abbey Route Overview Category: Walking Rating: Unrated Surface: Undefined Date Published: 22nd August 2017 Difficulty: Easy Length: 5.130 km / 3.21 mi Last Modified: 24th August 2017 Description A easy walk with some interesting history Waypoints Mount St Bernard Abbey (52.74139; -1.32191) This abbey is a Roman Catholic, Cistercian, Trappist monastery, founded in 1835. It is the first permanent monastery to be founded in England since the Reformation and the only Cistercian house in England. It is linked with the short- lived foundation of Cistercian monks in Lulworth, Dorset and the Abbey of Mount Melleray in Ireland. Some monks were sent from Melleray in 1835 to found Monastery of Mount St Bernard in 1835. The founding of the monastery was strongly opposed by the Vicar of Whitwick who preached against the revival of Romanism. The Abbey building was started in 1839 and consecrated in 1844. It was completed ninety years later. The granite used was quarried from the monastery grounds. A set of rails were donated by Midland Counties railway to enable the horse drawn cart to travel from the quarry to the church. with just a rope and a wind-lace to assist. The Ketton stone came from Normanton Hall and the Walldon stone came from Lord Ancaster’s quarries. 1 / 6 Eighty monks and labourers worked for four years. In 1840 during building, an urn containing 2000 Roman coins was discovered. The coins dated from the third century AD. Also a small arrow or spear head was found, a roman terracotta lamp and a range of vases and pottery. There are several theories about the presence of a Roman military post here but this has been quashed more recently. The coins are now in the Newarke museum. The building style is undecorated Gothic which is traditional for the Cistercian order. Pugin designed the western nave in Gothic revival style. Most of the Abbey church was designed by FJ Bradford of Leicester. The internal walls were rendered with water repellent cement. The building has no ornate carving, stained glass or paintings as this was thought to be a barrier to contemplation and prayer. Originally a huge oak 14 ft calvary cross was erected to the north of the Abbey church. It could be seen from many parts of the forest. This was only the second Calvary in England, the first being at Grace Dieu. The monastery was also a refuge for the poor and hungry. One priest wrote that there were extremes of rural poverty to be found in Leicestershire. Many Irish immigrants fleeing form the Great Potato Famine of the 1840s came to the area. In 1845, 2,788 people were given lodgings at the monastery and nearly 19,000 were given food. In 1837 36,000 people received charity from the monks. In 1856 a reformatory school for young Catholic delinquents was founded at Mount Saint Bernard and was housed in the first monastery building. It closed finally in 1885. A total of 1,642 boys had been admitted to it. In 1878 there was a severe depression in trade in the Leicestershire coalfield. Large numbers of the unemployed went to the monastery for soup. This practice was repeated during the General Strike of 1926. From the car park go back along the entrance road to a stile by a gate on the left. Here you follow the clear path along the hedge and go through a small wood to reach the road. Oaks Road (52.74350; -1.32617) Turn left and walk along the road for a short distance until you reach a signposted stile on your left. This straight well marked path crosses a track and the stone walls that enclose the fields Ratchet Hill (52.74239; -1.33611) When you get to the wall turn right then left. This forms a long but intertesting path with Ratchet Hill on the right and the Whitlock Quarry on the left. In 1827 the turnpike roads were abolished and following the local government acts 1888 there was increased demand for hard igneous rock from Leicestershire quarries for bridge building, railway blast and new roads. By 1890 Charnwood pre-cumbrian granite was the main source of aggregate for Britain. By 1900 1 million tonnes was quarried. In 2005 nearly 13 million tonnes of rock had been quarried. It was used from the midlands to the south east of 2 / 6 England as well as east and west midlands and East Anglia. Ratchett Hill was quarried. The overburden from Whitwick quarry had to be stripped of and removed. After the quarry was infilled in 1995 the National Forest planted 20,000 native trees and shrubs. The top of this area is 200m above sea level. A granite stone circle was build on top with a 10 tonne rock in the centre. This area leads on to Forest Rock Wood. Keep to the path until you come to the the second left hand entrance. Go up into the wood and take the winding path to the stone circle at the top of the hill. Stone Circle (52.74025; -1.34334) To continue the walk take the opposite path and then almost immediately the right hand fork. Go down the scree pathe to reach the south entrance to the wood. This entrance is on the Leicester Road in Whitwick. Here you turn left and go up the hill along the main road for a short distance until you come to the first turning on your right - St Bernard's Road. Go down this road and turn right at the T junction. Foolow round the left hand bend where you will see a sign for the Ivanhoe Way leading to a path between two houses. Ivanhoe Way (52.73726; -1.34543) Follow this straight path through a wood. Take the first left up to the main road. Turn right and walk up Leicester Road until Whitwick Quarry is reached on the left. Cross the road and enter the quarry Whitlock Quarry. (52.73409; -1.33450) In the quarry turn left the immediately right by some rocks. Follow the path which eventually comes to a junction of paths with the manure stones on your left. Follow a small winding path which bears right through a small wood and leads to a concrete stile in a walled corner. Views of the Abbey (52.73658; -1.32848) Across the stile the path rises slightly, goes through some bushes and then along a wall. From this path you will have good views of the Abbey on your left. At the end of this pathturn left and follow a track and a larger unmade road to reach the Abbey car park. 3 / 6 Famous visitors came to the Monastery. Among them were William Wordsworth, Florence Nightingale, Edward Burne-Jones and possibly Charles Dickens and non catholic William Gladstone. Some came to look and others to stay. More recently Sir Alec Guinness made many retreats to the monastery and the actor Ian Bannen and the football Justin Fashanu just before his death. Monks were conscripted in the first world war and the population of the abbey was very small at this stage. The new M1 in the 1950s was due to go close to the monastery but it was re-routed due to a petition which the monks could sign but not voice any concerns because of their vows of silence. The Abbey Other Interesting Facts (52.74090; -1.32174) The monks get up at 3.15 and go to bed at 8pm. They have a vegetarian diet. If a monk dies he is put in the communal coffin for the funeral then buried without a coffin in the earth. Some of their work involved pottery, bookbinding beekeeping and tending the vegetable garden and orchard. They also run a gift shop. There is a guest house for friends and family of the monks, retreatants and those interested in the monastic life. Approximately 5,000 guests stayed at the monastery annually. Until recently the monks ran a 200 acre dairy farm. This was forced to close because of falling milk prices in 2014. In March 2017 the community of Mount Saint Bernard entered into membership of the International Trappist Association with a view to developing their artisanal economy following the closure of the dairy farm. In 2005 the BBC reported that the monastery had a full quota of 35 brothers with approximately 50 applicants to join the monastery every year. —————————————————————————————— St Joseph’s tearooms The Monos foundation is a Christian organisation that through community and education seeks to foster a monastic spirit within the Church in society at large. A large house built from Charnwood forest stone in the nineteenth century was known as ‘Charnwood Tower’. The owner was a benefactor to the Roman Catholic Cause. It has been a pub and a care home. It has been renamed ‘The Mercian Centre’. Coalville Outstation Nearby is a field which was used in the war. 4 / 6 Four sheds and a radio trailer were used by wireless mechanics to jam target-finding radio beam systems used by the Luftwaffe. This was developed very quickly straight after the Coventry bombing on 25th November 1940. Since then only one bomb ever hit the Merlin engine factories in Derby. Twelve wireless Mechanics under a sergeant and a corporal waged a furious electronic war with Luftwaffe target radio beams overhead. Special jamming transmitters were operated from the sheds when directed by HQ from 80 Wing, 44Radlett in Hertfordshire.