Abbeys

NOTES: A Benedictine abbey was established on this site in the 10th century and it has been the coronation church of English monarchs since 1066. Construction on the present church began in 1245. Henry Yevele was the master mason of the new nave, which was completed in the 1390s. The last major additions to the abbey were the towers on the west front by Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James, completed in 1745.

NOTES: This addition, comimissioned by Henry VII (1485-1509) and built in 1503-1519, is attributed to the master masons William and Robert Vertue, and Robert Janyns.

NOTES: The original Augustinian abbey, founded in 1071, was rebuilt in Baroque style in 1686-1751. The Bruckner Organ, the larger of the two in the church, was built in 1771 by the Slovenian organ builder Fran Xaver Kristmann.

NOTES: Construction on this Cistercian abbey began in 1132 and was only completed in 1526 shortly before its dissolution in 1539. The east transept was added by Abbot John of Kent in 1220-1247.

NOTES: This abbey for Augustinian canonesses was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury. It was dissolved in 1539 and sold to Sir William Sharrington who converted it into a family home. The Gothick Great Hall was built for John Ivory Talbot by Sanderson Miller in 1753-1755.

NOTES: This Benedictine abbey church was founded in 1499 and ruined in 1539 during the Dissolution. Restoration of the church to serve as the grand parish church of Bath was promoted by Elizabeth I in 1574 and a new nave timber roof of lath construction had been completed by 1608-1616. Major restoration work was carried out by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the 1860s.

NOTES: Construction on the Abbey, officially known as Church of St Mary the Virgin in Tewkesbury, began in 1090. It was consecrated in 1121 and completed by 1150. The shining suns were the emblem of the Yorkists and are said to have been added by Edward IV after the defeat of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury in 1471, the last important battle of the Wars of the Roses.