Bayham Old Abbey, Aerial view

Photograph taken 1st May 1992 © SKYSCAN BALLOON PHOTOGRAPHY ref: K930645

This aerial view shows the ruins of Bayham Abbey with New Bayham Abbey beyond. The original abbey of the Premonstratensians or White canons (monks) was founded in the early 13th century. It sits right on the border of Kent and Sussex and had 2 gatehouses, one for each county. In 1525, the abbey was dissolved by Cardinal Wolsey to create funds for Wolsey's college foundations at Oxford and Ipswich. Around 1800 the ruins became a picturesque feature of the landscaped grounds of New Bayham Abbey based on the ideas of landscape designer Humphry Repton. This site is now (2011)in the care of English Heritage.

Location

Kent Lamberhurst

Period

Medieval (Middle Ages) (1066 - 1484)

Themes

A nunnery was first documented here in 603. A monastery was founded during the abbacy of Aldhelm (c675-705). It became Benedictine in the reign of Edgar (959–975) and remained so until dissolved in 1539. The final Abbey Church was built circa 1160-70 and had 13th/14th and 15th century additions. The 431 feet (131 m) tall spire, collapsed in a storm around 1500. The west tower fell around 1550. As a result of these two collapses, less than half of the original building stands today. The abbey was closed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539 by Henry VIII. It was sold, with all its lands, to William Stumpe, a rich merchant. He gave the abbey church to the town for continuing use as a parish church, and filled the abbey buildings with twenty looms for his cloth-weaving enterprise.
More Info

Bayham Old Abbey, Aerial view

Location

Period

Themes

Tags