Godstow is about northwest of the centre of Oxford. It lies on the banks of the River Thames between the villages of Wolvercote to the east and Wytham to the west. The ruins of Godstow Abbey, also known as Godstow Nunnery, are here. A bridge spans the Thames and the Trout Inn is at the foot of the bridge across the river from the abbey ruins. There is also a weir and Godstow lock.
History
Godstow Abbey (see detailed history below) was built here, starting in 1133. It housed an order of Benedictine nuns. Rosamund Clifford, the mistress of King Henry II, retired here and died at 30 in about 1177. Her grave is somewhere in the grounds but now lost. The abbey was suppressed in 1539 under the Second Act of Dissolution.
The abbey was then converted into Godstow House by George Owen. It was occupied by his family until 1645, when the building was badly damaged in the English Civil War. After this damage, the building fell into disrepair and was used by the locals as a source of stone for their buildings.
This stone bridge was in existence in 1692 and an earlier one was probably that held by the Royalists against Parliamentarians in 1644, during the Civil War. Godstow House itself was fortified as part of the defences of Royalist Oxford against the Parliamentary army at the Siege of Oxford.
By the Thames at Lower Wolvercote and Godstow is a 17th-century public house, The Trout Inn, close to Godstow Bridge. The current bridge, in two spans, was built in 1792, the southern span being rebuilt in 1892. Godstow Lock was built here in 1790.
In Victorian times, Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) brought Alice Liddell (aka Alice in Wonderland) and her sisters, Edith and Lorina, for river trips and picnics at Godstow.
The ruins of Godstow Abbey were used as a backdrop in the film Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again during the musical number "When I Kissed The Teacher".
History of Godstow Abbey
Godstow Abbey was built on what was then an island between streams running into the River Thames. The site was given to the founder Edith de Launceline, in 1133 by John of St. John Edith was the widow of William and she had been living alone in Binsey in Oxfordshire, before deciding to found a group of nuns. The abbey was built in local limestone in honour of St Mary and St John the Baptist for Benedictine nuns; with a further gift of land from him, the site was later enlarged. The church was consecrated in 1139. The Bishop of Lincoln confirms that it was Edith's money and will that created the community although she had enjoyed support from Henry I of England.
The abbey was again enlarged between 1176 and 1188 when Henry II gave the establishment £258 (which included £100 for the church), 40,000 shingles, 4,000 laths, and a large quantity of timber. Because the abbey was the burial place of his mistress Rosamund Clifford, Henry, who received patronal rights from the nuns, paid special favour to the Abbey.
In 1435 Elizabeth Felmersham became the abbess and struggled for some years to control her community. Felmersham died in 1446 and Alice Henley became the abbess and she served until 1470. She is remembered because a "poor brother and admirer" of the abbess created the "English Register". Its purpose was to explain the accounts, in English, to the nuns but it contained other descriptive material and today it illustrates "keeping and understanding records" in English in the 15th century. According to medieval scholar and historian Katie Ann-Marie Bugyis, this cartulary is the only one that has survived intact; it is also more extensive and covers a longer time period than other cartularies of the time. In 2019, using the community's extensive records, Bugyis conducted a study of Godstow Abbey's finances and compared them to nearby men's communities, for the purpose of demonstrating "lay perceptions of and financial investments in Benedictine nuns' prayers" and to ascertain if the gender of a community's members had any effect on the rate and spiritual benefits sought by their benefactors. Bugyis also assessed donors' gender, marital status, and familial relationships with community members. She found that the prayers of the Godstow Abbey nuns were not valued less than nearby male communities, and that in some cases, they were valued more.