The Abbey

April 2025 | England | Extant

This site is quite a special one, as it is somewhere that I’d seen quite a number of times on the way to school as a child as my parents used to drive past it. To find out it was abandoned a couple of years ago now… bit of an odd feeling!

History:

A mansion was built at the site in the early 1900s by a wealthy woman as a residence for herself. In the early 1910s, she invited a group of Franciscan nuns to the house in order to start a Roman Catholic boarding school for poor girls in the area. The chapel was built in the 1930s in a Gothic Revival style with a few touches of Art Deco here and there. The abbey continued operations and became a retreat centre as well before closing its doors sometime around 2021 or 2022.

The Explore:

Myself and Forbidden3dom decided to stop off here on the way to another explore we had planned. Well, I say “we”, I really mean I decided…! I’ve a love for religious buildings as they’re so beautiful. A short walk and we were instantly in. The first spot we went to was the chapel itself. I’m an architecture fanatic and I especially love Gothic Revival with a twist of Art Deco (see Guildford Cathedral). We spent a good couple of hours exploring the monastic buildings before leaving. It was a brilliant little explore. Enjoy the photos.

Exteriors:

Chapel:

Monastic Ranges: