Nuneaton - St Mary's Abbey
Not a well known building by any means, but a crucial one in the history of this town; this is the ancient abbey church founded at 'Eaton' in the 1150s whose resident nuns gave the present town the name 'Nuneaton'.
Very little of what one sees today survives of the original building. The cruciform church was sold after the dissolution and converted into a mansion. Abandoned in the seventeenth century it was quarried away until all that survived by the 1860s were the foundations, some low walls and the battered crossing piers of the former central tower.
In 1876-7 this desolate ruin was brought back to life as a place of worship after centuries of neglect, when half of the original length of the nave was reconstructed on the old foundations in neo-romanesque style with the old crossoing piers enclosed by a temporary brick stucture for use as a chancel. The west wall was also left in plain brick to allow for possible completion of the nave on the ancient footings further west at a later date, though this retains it's incomplete appearance to this day.
In 1904 the chancel was rebuilt in neo-gothic style on the old foundations east of the crossing by Harold Brakspear, followed by the north transept in 1930. The architect had drawn up plans to restore the south transept and central tower too, but sadly these were never realised, leaving the south transept as a ruin sealed off by the 1877 'temporary' brick wall and leavving the church in this odd truncated state today.
Inside the ruined crossing piers remain from the original church, as well as part of a fine medieval tiled floor (currently hidden under fitted carpet).
Situated in a residential area of Nuneaton, the church is normally kept locked
Very little of what one sees today survives of the original building. The cruciform church was sold after the dissolution and converted into a mansion. Abandoned in the seventeenth century it was quarried away until all that survived by the 1860s were the foundations, some low walls and the battered crossing piers of the former central tower.
In 1876-7 this desolate ruin was brought back to life as a place of worship after centuries of neglect, when half of the original length of the nave was reconstructed on the old foundations in neo-romanesque style with the old crossoing piers enclosed by a temporary brick stucture for use as a chancel. The west wall was also left in plain brick to allow for possible completion of the nave on the ancient footings further west at a later date, though this retains it's incomplete appearance to this day.
In 1904 the chancel was rebuilt in neo-gothic style on the old foundations east of the crossing by Harold Brakspear, followed by the north transept in 1930. The architect had drawn up plans to restore the south transept and central tower too, but sadly these were never realised, leaving the south transept as a ruin sealed off by the 1877 'temporary' brick wall and leavving the church in this odd truncated state today.
Inside the ruined crossing piers remain from the original church, as well as part of a fine medieval tiled floor (currently hidden under fitted carpet).
Situated in a residential area of Nuneaton, the church is normally kept locked
