Sometimes as part of #RuinedPrioryFriday we sneak in a ruined bishops palace
Yep, close enough

See more of the beautiful St Davids 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 in the new episode >>>
youtu.be/B1nhPec-gSc?...

#RuinedPrioryFriday with the beautiful Talley Abbey, Carmarthenshire 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 part of the crossing tower still standing at impressive height

See more of it in the episode >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0a9...

we started the tag #RuinedPrioryFriday for all of the incredible ruined monastic sites around the country , have a browse through the tag!

bsky.app/profile/fore...

#RuinedPrioryFriday & it is of course the immense Neath Abbey, South Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

& we have a new episode out with this & much much more >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0a9...

#RuinedPrioryFriday with Dale Abbey in Derbyshire

its a short way north, but see more of Derbyshire & the Peak District in the new episode >>>
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ta4...

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Just one more piece of Reading Abbey for today

while its somewhat hidden in amongst modern tower blocks, this archway is the last surviving fragment of the Abbey Mill that operated here

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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...and this is not pure conjecture - fragments of the stonework, paint intact have been found

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Another element thats easy to forget, all this intricate stonework would've originally been painted - as this reconstruction shows
(also - i have never seen a capital design like this before? really unique)

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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We've spent a few weeks researching the Hereford school [...of Romanesque sculpture] and while a direct link has not been established, Reading Abbey is cited as a major influence
& its not hard to see the repeated motifs
[Reading Abbey on the left, Stottesdon on the right]
#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Particularly fortunate for us, some of the spectacularly ornate capitals have survived and in the Reading Museum they've reconstructed something of how part of the cloiser may have looked

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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The gate had to be extensively restored after ...this

wasn't even the luftwaffe! just a storm in 1861 absolutely decked the thing
(it must've been in pretty fragile condition already for a storm to do this! 😬)

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Something that still stands impressively is the Abbey Gateway
...though there is a catch

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Just a hint of the stonework thats been lost
Heading out of the surviving ruined portion, my eye was caught by some of the weathered but still in-situ stonework on this arch
I don't know much about it, possible that water once flowed under here ?

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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It is sad to see archways that would've once held beautifully hewn romanesque patterns, figures and forms flowing out of the arch, now bare
(the doorway from St Peter & St Paul Church, Rock for comparison)

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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What had specifically brought us here this week was the abbeys links to the Hereford school, more on that soon

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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As you can see from this plan, there's not a lot surviving of the huge site
a mixture of modern buildings & the Prison cover much of the former grounds
However there are still significant fragments to explore, helped by the £3 million restoration done there in recent decades

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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These are the ruins of Reading Abbey
& while now reduced to just the rubble cores of the former structures, this was once an incredibly powerful monastic house and one of Europes largest Royal Monasteries

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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So let me first of all say: i have no beef with Reading,
buuut its not somewhere i generally considered very interesting

and this building here likewise doesn't appear to be of much interest, the now-closed Reading Prison
but tucked on the other side of this building...

#RuinedPrioryFriday

#RuinedPrioryFriday & since we were back exploring there this week, figured we needed a thread on Reading Abbey

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#RuinedPrioryFriday & while parts of Dore Abbey are still standing, its just a fraction of what used to be there,
You can see where the nave previously continued, now only the eastern end with the Transcepts & Presbytery stand

its #RuinedPrioryFriday

So thats all from #RuinedPrioryFriday for now, but if you know England (And Scotland, Wales & Ireland too) there is *plenty* more where that came from
So join us posting on the tag!
We're here every friday

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...and the blind arcading is rather spectacular 😳

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Wenlock Priory is particularly known for the beautiful Romanesque work of its chapter house

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Refounded as a Cluniac priory in around 1079-82,
After the dissolution it became a private residence

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Artists impression of Wenlock Priory at its height
also known as St Milburga's Priory named after Milburga who lived at the Saxon monastery on the site, originally founded in 680 AD

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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And finally, one that has a habit of stealing the show - Wenlock Priory

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Next along - Haughmond Abbey, surprisingly extensive with a remarkable amount of lovely details surviving

founded early c12

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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A plan of how Lilleshall would've looked at its height

#RuinedPrioryFriday

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Next Lilleshall Abbey, an Augustinian house founded in 1148

#RuinedPrioryFriday