Medmenham Abbey
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Medmenham Abbey by Mark Percy as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Medmenham Abbey
Image: © Mark Percy Taken: 17 Jan 2017
A Cistercian abbey was founded in Medmenham in the 12th century under the ownership of Woburn Abbey, though it was not officially recognised by royal charter until 1200. In 1547, with the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the abbey was seized and given to the Moore family and then sold privately to the Duffields. The abbey then became infamous as the location of The Hellfire Club, formerly called the Monks of Medmenham. In 1755, when Sir Francis Dashwood acquired the ruins of the ancient abbey from the Duffield family, he and John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich attended a service at St. Peter's parish church in Medmenham where Sandwich released a small monkey in the church. The congregation fled in horror, sure that Satan himself had invaded their place of worship. Today the abbey is a private residence and is not open to the public.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
51.547341
Longitude
-0.838458