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Bordesley Abbey was a 12th-century Cistercian abbey near the town of Redditch, in Worcestershire, England.
The abbey's foundation was an act of Waleran de Beaumont, Count of Meulan, who gave the monks of Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire some more land. However, Empress Matilda laid claim to the patronage of Bordesley once Waleran surrendered to her in about 1141, thus making Bordesley a royal house.
Bordesley Abbey was once an important local ecclesiastical centre, holding political control of the ancient township of Tardebigge. It was demolished by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538 and the property was sold.
The ruins are now an archaeology site, undergoing investigation since 1969 by the University of Reading's 'Bordesley Abbey Project'. Many of the excavated items can be seen in a visitor centre and museum at the site, which is joined with the Forge Mill Needle Museum.
The ruins of the abbey today consist of visible earthworks and walls, and parts buried underground such as the watermill and workshops. The watermill was industrial, with the wheel driving the bellows of a forge and hammers for making objects like knives and Tenterhook. The site is managed by the Forge Mill Needle Museum, which provides access to the abbey ruin, included within its entry fee as well as guided tours. The abbey has been designated by Historic England as a scheduled monument since 1957.
The abbey was set up by Waleran as a monastery for a group of Cistercian monks, previously based at Garendon Abbey in Leicestershire. The designated area, located in the valley of the River Arrow, was predominantly marshland at the time and the monks had to drain the land and divert the river to make it suitable for building. The earliest buildings on the site were wooden, with stone constructions being built a few years later. The first part of the abbey to be completed was the church, completed in around 1150, with subsequent building taking place predominantly during five distinct periods up to the early 14th century. The abbey acquired considerable land-holdings in the area, on which it farmed produce such as cereal and wool for sale. This was managed through a system of around twenty Monastic grange, established by the early 13th century and located in Worcestershire and Warwickshire, up to from the abbey itself. In the 13th century a gatehouse and chapel were built at the west end of the precinct. This chapel, dedicated to St Stephen, survived the Dissolution and continued to be used by the parish; it was demolished in 1805 when a new church was built in the centre of Redditch town.
The abbey closed on 17 July 1538 during the dissolution of the monasteries under King Henry VIII, when its final abbot, John Day, surrendered the land and possessions to the king. The land was sold by Henry on 23 September 1538. In 1542 the cleared site was granted to Lord Windsor, and was held by the earls of Plymouth until the 20th century. It is now owned by the borough of Redditch.
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