The Abbey Church of the Holy Cross, in Pershore, Worcestershire, England
Pershore was one of England’s most ancient abbeys – the 16th c. antiquary John Leyland, who was able to consult documents now lost, placed the original date of foundation at , and this is generally accepted. However, it was not until 972 that it was firmly established, or re-established, as a house of Benedictine monks. It received extensive lands, but later many of them were taken away to endow Westminster Abbey. The abbey remained an important one, but with the loss of so much of its property, and devastating fires in 1002, 1223 and 1288, the abbey seems to have had constant financial problems. The very last abbot, John Stoneywell, seems to have been a learned and pious man, but he found the abbey’s affairs in considerable disorder, and his attempts to rectify matters made him deeply unpopular with those who had benefited from the lax rule of his extravagant predecessor - and all this took place against the radical changes in the church and the liberties of the monasteries that came with Henry VIII’s break with Rome. In February 1539 he attempted to resign, but in the event Pershore seems to have survived until the last round of suppressions. Nothing now survives of the domestic buildings, but the church was luckier, as it also served as the parish church. However, it is the former monastic part which survives. Nothing remains of the Nave save the processional door which once led into the now equally non-existent cloisters, the Lady Chapel has also been lost, though this was replaced by a smaller chapel in the 19th c., and the North Transept collapsed in 1686, leaving an L-shaped building, consisting of the beautiful 13th c. Quire, the Norman South Transept, and, where they join, the fine 14th c. tower, supported by the Norman crossing piers, and, since 1913, two huge buttresses on the site of the Nave.
Size: 2848px × 4287px
Location: Abbey Park, Pershore, Worcestershire, England
Photo credit: © David Knighton / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: abbey, benedictine, britain, british, church, england, english, exterior, june, kingdom, monks, parish, pershore, scene, spring, topographical, uk, united, worcestershire
