Reculver Abbey, Reculver, Kent
This images is titled "The South View of Reculver-Abbey in the County of Kent".It was drawn by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck in 1735. They were brothers who, in 1724, set out around England to make prints of 'antiquities'. It shows the 12th century church of St Mary. The church was built near the centre of an earlier Roman fort and reused part of its defences, bricks, rubble and masonry. It is also built on the site of an Anglo-Saxon monastery that was founded in around AD 669. It was partly demolished in 1805 when the stone was used to construct the new church (also St Mary's) on higher ground at Hillborough, but the twin towers were left. In 1809, the ruined church was bought, repaired and underpinned by Trinity House, and the towers are still used as a navigation mark for shipping. This site is now in the care of English Heritage (2011). Find out more.
