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Egglestone Abbey, Co. Durham
A ruined Premonstratensian abbey perched at the edge of a hill above the
Tees River. It suffered repeated attacks during the border conflicts of
the medieval period and was finally closed by Henry VIII’s commissioners
in 1540.
Part of the site became a mansion during the Tudor period and the centre
of the church was demolished to provide better access and to ‘improve’
the view!
The photo, taken from the nave one August evening, shows the missing
centre of the church with only gravestones and an enormous trough like
tomb base. At the far end stands the walls of the chancel. |
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Shropshire
The nave
interior (below) of the former Benedictine abbey church at Shrewsbury. Now used
as a parish church it well known as being featured in the ‘Brother
Cadfael’ novels of Ellis Peters. The Cadfael character was a crime
solving medieval monk, portrayed by Derek Jacobi in the mid 1990’s
British TV series. |
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Far more of the abbey buildings survived into the
19th century until 1836, when they were demolished by Telford to make
way for the road which can just be seen in the photo above, running
through the former site of the cloister. Anything which survived that
was destroyed in 1865 for 'railway purposes' leaving only the nave of
the church and the strange fragment of the vaulted pulpit from the
refectory, now marooned and fenced in on the opposite of the road. |
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Stokesay Castle, near the Welsh border. This is a
remarkable survival of a once moated 13th century manor house, built by
the wool merchant, Lawrence Ludlow and with the timbered gatehouse added
later in the 17th century (below right).
Below: the interior of the Great Hall. |
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Acton Burnell and Beeston Castle's
Left: What remains
of Acton Burnell 'Castle'
is the outer shell of the
apartments of the 13th century
manor house. The manor complex
was mostly demolished by the
17th century and this ruin was
retained as an ornamental garden
feature for the nearby 18th
century mansion.
Below:
Situated on a sheer rocky crag,
Beeston has amongst the
most stunning views of any
English castle. A Bronze Age
settlement and Iron Age hillfort
occupied the site long before
the castle was begun in 1225,
surviving many centuries until
it finally fell to
Parliamentarian forces during
the English Civil War.
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