The Abbey Today
The town's parish church of St Thomas Becket was built ca. 1180-90 as a hospital, infirmary or guesthouse of the abbey. It was originally an aisled hall with a chapel at the east end with a vestry on the north side and the warden's lodgings on the south, but both these have been demolished. The building became the parish church ca. 1222.
The Abbey Gatehouse (a National Trust property), the Almshouses, and the parish church can still be seen. Today, what remains of the gatehouse forms a part of Abbey College.
Ramsey Abbey house - the former 17th century home of Sir Henry Cromwell, is currently used to house 6th form facilities and to accommodate lessons.
Part of the gatehouse was removed by the son and heir of Sir Richard (Sir Henry Williams (alias Cromwell)) to form the main gateway to Hinchingbrooke House in Huntingdon, his newly built winter residence.
Read more about this topic: Ramsey Abbey
Famous quotes containing the words abbey and/or today:
“The Abbey always reminds me of that old toast, “Above lofty timbers, the walls around are bare, echoing to our laughter, as though the dead were there.””
—Garrett Fort (1900–1945)
“The late Président de Montesquieu told me that he knew how to be blind—he had been so for such a long time—but I swear that I do not know how to be deaf: I cannot get used to it, and I am as humiliated and distressed by it today as I was during the first week. No philosophy in the world can palliate deafness.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)