Healing water

Not far from the forest of Lyons, in the valley of the Andelle, a lively and undisciplined river, the landscape has retained the feel of wilderness. Here, water is master, submerging the neighbouring fields for part of the year, and permanently surrounding the old spinning mill which not far from the abbey rises, like a mirage, with its curious neo-mediaeval towers high above the foliage.

It is in this enchanting, remote setting, reputed for its miraculous fountain, that a community of Benedictine nuns decided to settle in the 12th century, before transferring to the Cistercian order the following century. The buildings that have been handed down to us are in a very pure Gothic style, characteristic of Anglo-Norman architecture, and they evoke more the simplicity of country life, rather than the austerity and demands of strict observance.

While the church was destroyed in part, the conventual buildings still offer lovely spaces that are open to the surrounding landscape: the dormitory, with its roof in the form of a ship’s hull, has as many windows as nuns’ cells; the chapter house, with its fine columns, offers a haven for meditation; and the ogival vaults of the work room seem still to resonate with the sounds of nuns hard at work with their sewing and embroidery.