Old Gregorians News Today

There’s a small cemetery in the grounds of Downside Abbey. Surrounded by a thick hedge, and overlooked by the stout neo-Gothic bulk of the abbey tower, it contains rows of metal crosses. Since 1794 when the Benedictine community came to Britain from Catholic France, it’s where most of its monks have been buried. They would join as novices in their early 20s and know that, decades later, that is where they would end up.

The monks of Downside Abbey in Somerset left after a damning enquiry into historic abuse. Now, an ex-pupil returns to find out what happened