List of Great Ruins within the UK
Introduction
The United Kingdom is blessed with Centuries of wonderful historic architecture, yet neglect or changing trends can see many of these properties fall into disrepair. Local authorities often use such downturns in a building’s fortunes as an opportunity to clear the site & start again. Usually with disastrously ugly projects.
Ruinous states of buildings, though, is not always down to the shortsightedness of twentieth and twenty first century planners. There are many examples where the ruins have been maintained in such a state for centuries following tumultuous episodes in history such as the Dissolution of the Monasteries or changes in cultural behaviour.
The list below is a small sample of just some wonderful ruins to review, study and better understand.
A Welsh Marvel - Llanthony Priory
Llanthony Priory dates back to the year 1100, having been founded by Norman Nobleman Walter De Lacey who had discovered a ruined chapel at the site. His plan for secluded prayer could not have found a better site, with the Priory located in the sparsely populated Ewyas Valley. The glacial scar in the earth is found in the beautiful Black Mountains seven miles north of Abergavenny.
Wingfield Manor
A long shadow of dereliction has cast down upon the beautiful Derbyshire countryside for two and a half centuries. Wingfield Manor, located just four miles from Alfreton, saw three hundred years of dramatic history come to an end. Never to rise again.
The property was originally constructed for the Treasurer to King Henry VI, Ralph Cromwell, in 1441. Unfortunately for Ralph he was not to see his Country Manor House completed. It was then taken on by the second Earl of Shrewsbury, John Talbot, who’s family was to be the custodians for the next two centuries.
The turbulent years to follow were to see the Wingfield Manor used as a Prison for Mary Queen of Scots, the scene of multiple Civil War Era sieges and quite possibly the first flushing toilet in the United Kingdom, if not the world.
Read more on this wonderful relic in the heart of the East Midlands
Stone Graves and Saxon Era Chapel in Lancashire
St Patrick’s Chapel is a wonderful little example of Anglo Saxon architecture dating back to the 8th Century. Archaeological excavations conducted in the twentieth century managed to establish that the site had in fact been in use for much longer, almost 12,000 years through to the modern day. Close to the site of the Chapel are the stone cut graves of six former Anglo Saxon residents of the small Lancashire fishing village.
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