In front of you, the colourful curtains hide the Abbess's Doorway, which is now permanently shut, but can be seen from outside.
The embroidered curtains were designed and made locally in 1961, and show six male saints and six female saints with their traditional symbols. Above the curtains we see Christ in Glory flanked by angels.
The male saints on the left are: St Francis of Assisi (with a deer); St Augustine (with a bishop’s crozier); St John the Apostle (with a chalice); St Jerome (with a lion); St George (with a dragon) and St Peter (with a cockerel and the key to Heaven).
On the right are: St Ethelflaeda (with the present-day Romsey Abbey); St Mary the Virgin (with the baby Jesus); St Ursula (with a single arrow); St Mary Magdalene (with anointing oil); St Catherine of Alexandria (with the wheel) and St Anne, the mother of St Mary (with Mary as a child).
There are many colourful pieces of embroidery in the Abbey. They remind us that God is woven into our lives.
Just to the right of the curtains is a diptych (a painting in two sections) of St Ethelflaeda, an early Abbess of Romsey. It was painted in 2017 by Chris Gollon. According to legend, when Ethelflaeda thought she had done wrong she would slip outside at night and stand in a running stream where she prayed many times to God. It is said that when darkness fell, she was able to read the Scriptures by light which glowed from her fingertips.
Walk back past the curtains and, after a few more steps, bear right into St Nicholas’ Chapel.
