The Threadgold Treasury contains items of particular interest to Romsey Abbey. First and foremost among these is the Deed of Sale. For many years, part of the Abbey had been used as the parish church. When the nunnery closed in 1539, as part of King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries, it left Romsey with no parish church. This document was signed by the King in 1544 when he sold the Abbey to four ‘guardians’ representing the people of Romsey for £100.
The treasury also contains: a 16th century alabaster pietà showing the dead Jesus being held by his mother; an Elizabethan chalice from 1565; the Romsey Psalter (a book of psalms) which dates from the mid-15th century and the famed 'Romsey Rose'. This was found in a hole behind a medieval wall painting in St Mary’s Chapel when it was being restored in 1976. The discovery gained much publicity, but the ‘rose’ turned out to be a member of the allium (onion) family!
Continue east and, after a few steps, look at the first window on your right.
