History of the Royaumont park
Though the majestic buildings at Royaumont still exist and give us a good idea of what the monastery was like in the 13th century, it is more difficult to imagine the transformation of the landscape around the abbey since that time.
Canals dug by monks in the 13th century
The Royaumont site has retained some of its medieval features. At Royaumont the monks captured a spring 3 km away to provide water for drinking and ablutions. They also channeled two rivers (the Thève and the Ysieux) far upstream. These subdivided into an arm flowing around the abbey and another flowing through the grounds and the latrines, which it cleaned before continuing underground. These canals are still visible today. During the first half of the 19th century, Royaumont was converted into a cotton mill and new canals were grafted onto the existing ones to provide energy for the machines and water for washing the cloth. Later on, the canal supplying the laundry was enlarged to form large reflecting pools to embellish the park. Today the canals, which no longer serve their original purpose, constitute one of the abbey park's most outstanding ornamental elements.
Origin of the park
Engravings by Gaignères in 1694 and Aveline in the early 18th century show elegant arrangements of basins and regular squares, most of which have now disappeared.
At the end of the 19th century, nuns established a novitiate within the walls abandoned and damaged by the industrialists; they restored the abbey and gave it a new lease on life. Avenues were built along the canals and bordered with chestnut trees; the park had a composite style, in which regular sections with geometric lawns alternated with groves and a grotto containing a pietà. Prayers and processions turned towards the statues and oratories placed in the park, which was arranged as a pastoral setting fostering tranquility and reflection. The park is, today, still structured as it was the 19th century and it is still possible to walk in the shade of the chestnut trees.
Work by landscape architect Achille Duchêne
In 1912, less than 10 years after the nuns departed, Achille Duchêne enhanced the ruins of the church, adding radiating paving stones to the choir and the nave and squares of lawn. These elements have now disappeared. He also transformed the cloister garden, with four plots of boxwoods of geometric pattern surrounded by yews pruned in a cone shape and arranged around an octagonal basin.
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