Leicester, Cavendish House, Abbey Park c.1955
Photo ref:
L144088
More about this scene
This house of 1600 was built by Henry Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, using stone robbed from the remains of Leicester Abbey; but it was to be reduced to a skeletal ruin by fire 45 years later. The main front seen in the photograph is virtually all that remains; the house to the right is 19th century. The Abbey of St Mary de Pratis, which is laid out in the north- west angle of the park, was one of the largest in England of the Augustinian Order. It was founded in 1143 by Robert le Bossu, and was dissolved in 1538 after an unsuccessful attempt by the last abbot to withstand the suppression. At the end, the Abbey had a very large annual income in excess of £950, and twenty monks were pensioned off. The Abbey ruins are presently (1999) included in English Heritage's Register of Buildings at Risk.
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A Selection of Memories from Leicester
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