Every month I choose a photograph from Flickr to appear here. Hopefully something interesting and informative or just plain silly.
This month’s photo is from me again. It’s called “The Abbey” and was taken on my recent trip to Shrewsbury, England. It’s a photo of The Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury.
The caption on the photo reads, “The Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Shrewsbury, in the county town of Shropshire, England is commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey. It was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1083 by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery.
It is located to the east of Shrewsbury town centre, near to the English Bridge, and is surrounded by a triangular area, called Abbey Foregate. A large part of the original monastery was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, but a number of buildings, including the church were left intact.
In a piece of cultural vandalism, Thomas Telford built the A5 road through the remaining part of the Abbey and now only part of the original abbey church exists, but it is still used as a place of worship. The old refectory pulpit is still visible across the road from the church and a single wall of an abbey building, now an integral part of another building, remains.
The history of Shrewsbury Abbey played a prominent role in the “Cadfael” mysteries by Ellis Peters. I still haven’t been inside!”