Everyone knows at least one date in English history - 1066 - the
year the invading Normans defeated the English at the Battle of
Hastings. In fact the conflict took place some seven miles north of
Hastings, at a place then called Senlac. Here, William...
Sir Thomas Audley was given the lands of Walden Abbey by Henry
VIII, and adapted the abbey buildings as his mansion. His grandson
Thomas, first Earl of Suffolk, rebuilt this mansion between 1603
and 1614. The new Audley End was truly palatial in scale,...
The impressive ruins of an abbey of Premonstratensian 'white
canons', on the Kent-Sussex border. They include much of the 13th
to 15th-century church, the chapter house, and a picturesque
14th-century gatehouse. Now set in a landscape designed by...
Impressive ruins of a Cistercian abbey, including its unusually
unaltered 12th-century church, beautiful vaulted and tile-floored
chapter house, and recently re-opened crypt chapel. In a wooded
Severn-side setting, not far from the Iron Bridge and...
Byland was one of the great Yorkshire Cistercian abbeys, housing at
its zenith well over 200 monks and lay brothers. Much of its huge
cathedralsized church survives, including the whole north side and
the greater part of the 13th-century west front. The...
The picturesque Cistercian abbey of Cleeve boasts the most
impressively complete and unaltered set of monastic cloister
buildings in England, standing roofed and two storeys high. They
include the gatehouse; the 15th-century refectory with its...
Denny Abbey has a unique and fascinating history. Founded in 1159
as a Benedictine monastery, it then became a retirement home for
elderly Knights Templars. After the Templars' suppression for
alleged heresy in 1308, it next passed to the Countess of...
The impressive remains of an abbey founded by Stephen, later King
of England, including much of the east end and west tower of the
church, the ornately decorated chapter house and the cloister
buildings. Originally of the Savigniac order, it passed to...
The Cistercian abbey of Hailes was founded in 1246 by Richard of
Cornwall, in thanksgiving for deliverance from shipwreck, and
dissolved on Christmas Eve 1539. Though never housing large numbers
of monks, it had extensive and elaborate buildings,...
The extensive remains of an Augustinian abbey, including its
abbots' quarters, refectory and cloister. The substantially
surviving chapter house has a frontage richly bedecked with 12th
and 14th-century carving and statuary, and a fine timber roof of...
Surrounded by spectacular banks and ditches, the great medieval
castle's impressive ruins stand beside the attractive market town
of Helmsley. The fortress was probably begun after 1120 by Walter
Espec - 'Walter the Woodpecker'. Renowned for piety as...
Standing close to Hadrian's Wall, the Augustinian priory of
Lanercost was much involved in the Anglo-Scottish wars. During his
last campaign in 1306-7 the mortally sick Edward I rested here for
six months, before dying at Burgh-by-Sands as he prepared to...
John Fortin, a merchant who traded with Bordeaux, started building
this house c. 1290. A residence and place of business, it stood on
one of the busiest streets in medieval Southampton. Now restored to
its mid-14th-century appearance by the removal of...
Muchelney, the atmospheric and once-remote 'great island' amid the
Somerset Levels, has many rewards for visitors. Beside the clearly
laid out foundations of the wealthy medieval Benedictine abbey (and
its Anglo-Saxon predecessor) stands a complete early...
'Everywhere peace, everywhere serenity, and a marvellous freedom
from the tumult of the world.' Written over eight centuries ago by
the monastery's third abbot, St Aelred, these words still describe
Rievaulx today. Set in a beautiful and tranquil valley,...
Beautifully set in a valley landscaped by 'Capability' Brown in the
18th century, the most striking feature of this Cistercian abbey is
the eastern end of its church, built in the new Gothic style c.
1170. It has one of the most complete ground plans of...
This great abbey, marking the rebirth of Christianity in southern
England, was founded shortly after AD 597 by St Augustine.
Originally created as a burial place for the Anglo-Saxon kings of
Kent, it is part of the Canterbury World Heritage Site, along...
With a history spanning over a millennium, St Peter's church is
among the most important historic buildings in England. It combines
a remarkably complete Anglo-Saxon tower and rare baptistry, dating
mainly from c. 970, with a tall and impressive medieval...
The enormous and ornate fortified gatehouse of Thornton Abbey is
the largest and among the finest of all English monastic gatehouses. An early example of brick building in England, it
proclaimed the wool tradebased prosperity of one of the...
Picturesque ruins of a large priory of Cluniac monks, whose love of
decoration is reflected in the glorious carving of its 12th-century
chapter house and rare 'lavabo' - a tiered washing fountain in a
topiary bedecked cloister garden.
Parts of the great...