Haughmond Abbey - The Ruins Today

The Ruins Today

• Extant ruins of Haughmond Abbey

• Bay window of abbot's private rooms.

• Interior of abbot's hall.

• Exterior view of abbot's hall, showing west window.

• West side of the abbey, showing (from right) exterior of Abbot's hall, kitchens, refectory undercroft, main cloister.

• View from west, showing entrance to the refectory undercroft, the main storage area for provisions, and above it the west window of the refectory.

• Sluice in the refectory undercroft.

• Site of abbey kitchens, with two fireplaces prominent.

• View of refectory site, showing undercroft and lavers at cloister entrance.

• General view south-east across the little cloister to the abbot's residence.

• General view south west across the small cloister to the abbot's hall.

• Frontage of the chapter house.

• Rear view of the chapter house.

• Interior of chapter house, octagonal font from church in centre.

• Late medieval timber ceiling in the chapter house.

• General view across main cloister.

• Processional entrance to church.

• Stump of nave pillar.

• Site of the sanctuary.

• Site of garden established by Abbot Nicholas of Longnor, elected 1325.

• Site of canons' doormitory.

• Reredorter or latrine area of the dormitories.

• View NNW across the former horticultural areas of the abbey.

The Haughmond Abbey buildings, like those at Lillehall, show signs of Cistercian architectural influence. The standing remains are of white sandstone rubble construction with ashlar dressings. Most of the buildings were grouped around two cloisters. They include: the foundations and west cloister doorway of the late 12th and early 14th century church; the late 12th century chapter house (which is still roofed); the west wall of the warming house and dorter; the walls of the frater and its undercroft; and the early 13th century infirmary, flanked by the abbot's lodging to the east. Apart from a few walls, little else has survived from the western side of the site and, at the northern edge, the abbey church has completely disappeared - although the cruciform ground plan is still clearly visible.

The public entrance to the abbey site is now on the south side, where the extant ruins are at their most impressive. Visitors are confronted by the elaborately decorated, five-sided bay window of the abbot's private quarters. This is of very late date - probably the second half of the 15th century. The accommodation for the abbots became steadily more luxurious and more private throughout the history of the abbey. Beyond the window are remains of the 12th-century abbot's rooms, which were on a far more modest scale. The large and impressive abbot's hall, with its great west window of six lights, was built in the 14th century, partly over some of the 12th-century abbot's buildings. Below the window doorways led to the service buildings: remains and traces of these mainly 12th-century structures are still visible beyond the western end of the hall. This southern end of the site was considerably modified but preserved after the dissolution, when it was used as a family residence.

From the western side of the ruins, the abbot's hall window remains the dominant structure, but walls of the kitchen and dining areas and of the main cloister are easily made out beyond it. It is possible to walk through the entrance to the undercroft of the frater or refectory, below the great west refectory window, which would once have been an impressive structure when it was inserted in the 13th century. The refectory and its undercroft separated the little cloister to the south from the larger northern cloister. The undercroft was the main storage area for provisions, which were brought in through its western entrance from the abbey grounds. A sluice supplied by a stream is on the northern side of the undercroft. The undercroft linked via service steps to the frater above, and by a door to the kitchens, which lay along the western side of the little cloister. The large fireplaces in the west wall of the kitchen range are still very prominent. The frater, being on the upper floor, has gone, but the main cloister wall closest its entrance has two large, arched niches that contained the lavers for the canons' ceremonial ablution before meals.

The main cloister was a large, almost square, open area, not arcaded like the little cloister, but open to the sky. It gave access to the main theatres of communal life: the refectory, the chapter house, the canons' dorter and the church itself.

The chapter house is of exceptional quality and in a good state of preservation. It is fronted by three heavily decorated round arches of the late 13th century, the larger centre arch a doorway and the flanking arches originally windows. The shafts between were built with carved capitals, but a series of sculptures of saints was added to them in the 14th century. There is no trace of the original seating, which would have allowed the canons to sit around the walls of the building. However, there is an impressive moulded, wooden ceiling, probably moved from another part of the abbey: the chapter house was substantially remodelled in the 16th century, perhaps subsequent to the complaints about its condition under Abbot Pontesbury.

The church is the most completely ruined part of the site, with little in the way of upstanding walls. A single Norman architecture arched doorway, leading from the cloister into the nave of the church shows fine foliage moulding, with the sculptured figures of St Peter and Saint Paul either side of the opening. This is on the south side of the church's western end - an austere choice, apparently unaltered. Lilleshall and most similar abbeys had their processional door near close to the transept and dorter, and many had night stairs for the convenience of the monks or canons. At Haughmond the canons had to cross the cloisters, in all weathers, and all times of day and night. There are traces of an early 12th century church, found during excavations, close to the south transept. However, the easily discerned cruciform plan of the late 12th century building provides the main framework. The natural upward slope to the east was used to create a symbolism of spiritual ascent, with steps leading from the nave to the choir, and more from the choir to the sanctuary and high altar - a rise of about four metres. The church was about 60 metres in length - about the same as at Lilleshall - and originally aisleless. However, an aisle and porch were added on the northern side in the 13th century. A chapel was added to the northern side of the presbytery in the 15th: this may have been the chapel of St Anne), where the canons served the Le Strange chantry around 1480. Burials of lay benefactors took place in the church and elsewhere on the site: the graves of Richard FitzAlan, 8th Earl of Arundel (d.1302) and his mother, Isabella Mortimer, Countess of Arundel (d. circa 1292), both very important benefactors, are marked in the sanctuary area.

The remains of the canon's dorter or dormitory are slight. It was probably a two-storey building, with the bottom floor used for storage - like the frater - and for a warming house. At the northern end, the dorter is backed by Longnor's Garden, the area set out by the abbot for culinary and medicinal herbs, which contained a dovecote in the 15th century. At the southern end of the dorter, a doorway led to the reredorter, the communal washing and latrine block. Although the facilities themselves have gone, there is a very clear length of stone drain, still supplied by a diverted stream.

The abbey precinct is enclosed in part by a wall of undressed stone, which still stands around the south and west sides. The outer gatehouse and a possible inner gatehouse survive in earthwork form, along with other buildings which may have been part of the Abbey. The artificial landscape created in the Middle Ages is discernible to the north. A reservoir and three possible fishponds can be identified, along with various other medieval features.