Abbey Gate

Greetings

I sometimes include buildings, or ruins, in my Landscape of Dreams.

These tend to be castles and abbeys.

Thanks to our good friend Henry VIII, there is practically nothing left of Merton Abbey. He reused most of the stone to build Nonsuch Palace ( which, ironicly, had now totally vanished).

However, when I had the extension built at my house, I had to have the crazy paving ripped up. This was all good York stone and I discovered that one piece was a complete flagstone and that another had part of a carved window reveal. I think there is more than a fair chance that these are little bits of Merton Abbey and have preserved them.

The only other pieces of the Abbey remaining are a two sections of its boundary wall, a few parts of the buildings at Merton Abbey Mill and a Norman arch doorway that was moved and re-erected at St Mary's Church.

This is a watercolour I painted of the arch.

Until next time

Adieu