Lacock Abbey facts for kids
Lacock Abbey is a historic country house in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England. It started as a nunnery (a home for nuns) in the early 1200s. It was founded by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, for the Augustinian order of nuns.
The abbey was a nunnery until the 1500s. At that time, many religious buildings in England were closed down. Lacock Abbey was then sold to Sir William Sharington. He turned the nunnery into a large home for himself and his family.
During the English Civil War in the 1600s, the house was made stronger and stayed loyal to the King. But it later gave up to the Parliament's army in 1645.
The house was built over the old cloisters (covered walkways). Its main rooms are on the first floor. It is made of stone with stone roofs and unique twisted chimneys. Over many years, the house has been changed and added to, so it looks like a mix of different styles. The old stable yard still has many original parts, like the brewhouse and bakehouse.
Later, the house became home to the Talbot family. In the 1800s, William Henry Fox Talbot lived there. In 1835, he took what might be the oldest surviving photographic negative. It was a picture of one of the abbey's windows.
In 1944, the house and the village of Lacock were given to the National Trust. Today, the abbey has the Fox Talbot Museum. This museum celebrates William Talbot's amazing work in photography. The National Trust calls the place "Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum & Village." The abbey is a very important historic building, known as a Grade I listed building.
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The Abbey's Early Days: How It Started
Lacock Abbey was built to honor St Mary and St Bernard. It was started in 1229 by Ela, Countess of Salisbury. She was the wife of William Longespee, who was a son of King Henry II. Ela placed the first stone of the abbey on April 16, 1232. This happened in Snail's Meadow, near Lacock village.
The first Augustinian nuns joined the community in 1232. Ela herself became a nun there in 1228. Lacock Abbey grew and became wealthy during the Middle Ages. It received rich farmlands from Ela. This helped it earn a lot of money, especially from selling wool.
From Nunnery to Family Home: Big Changes
In the mid-1500s, many monasteries were closed down in England. This was called the Dissolution of the Monasteries. King Henry VIII sold Lacock Abbey to Sir William Sharington for £783.
Sir William tore down the abbey church. He used its stones to make the building bigger. He started changing the abbey into a house around 1539. He also sold the church bells. He used the money to build a bridge over the River Ray. This was so villagers would not have to walk too close to his new home.
Most of the old monastic buildings stayed the same. For example, the cloisters (covered walkways) are still there below the living areas. Around 1550, Sir William added an eight-sided tower. This tower had two small rooms, one above the other. The bottom room was for keeping his treasures. The top room was for special dinners. You could only reach it by walking across the roof. Each room has a stone table with fancy designs from the Renaissance period.
A stone building from the mid-1500s stands over the spring. Water from this spring was carried to the house. More additions were made over the years. The house now has several large, fancy rooms.
Lacock Abbey During the English Civil War
During the English Civil War (1642-1651), the house was used by the King's soldiers, called Royalists. They made the house stronger by building earth walls around it.
However, the Royalist soldiers gave up the house to the Parliament's army. This happened shortly after Oliver Cromwell's forces captured the nearby town of Devizes in September 1645.
Photography's Birthplace: William Henry Fox Talbot
The house later became home to the Talbot family. It is most famous because of William Henry Fox Talbot. He was an amateur scientist and inventor. In 1835, he took what might be the oldest surviving photographic camera negative. It was a picture of a window inside the abbey.
Talbot's experiments led to his invention of the calotype process. This was a more sensitive way to make paper negatives for cameras. He introduced it for public use in 1841.
Lacock Abbey's Design and Look
When Sir William Sharington bought the nunnery in 1540, he built a country house on the cloister court. He kept the cloisters and the medieval basement mostly the same. He built another floor above them, so the main rooms are on the first floor.
The house is made of stone. Its roofs are made of stone slates. It has many twisted chimney stacks from the 1500s. The house mixes different styles, but it doesn't have one clear plan. The four parts of the house are built above the cloister passages. However, you cannot enter the house from the cloisters, and you cannot see the cloisters from inside the house.
The abbey was changed a lot in the 1750s. This was done in the Gothic Revival style. The great hall was redesigned during this time.
The basement has an archway of cloisters on three sides. It surrounds several rooms with arched ceilings. These include the sacristy (where sacred items are kept), the chapter house (a meeting room), and the warming house. These rooms were under the original dormitory (sleeping area).
The west side of the house has two wide, balustraded staircases leading to the main door. Inside is a tall hall. On each side are eight-sided towers with small domes and delicate stone railings. To the left is the old medieval kitchen. To the right are rooms with a stepped support at the corner.
The south side used to be plain. It was the inner wall of the old abbey church, which was torn down. But William Talbot rebuilt it in 1828 to add bay windows. At this end of the building is Sharington's tower. It is an eight-sided, three-story tower. It has a small viewing area, a railing, and a stair tower at the top.
The east side looks more medieval, but it was probably built around 1900. The south end of this side seems to be from the 1500s. North of the house is the well-preserved stable courtyard from the 1500s. It has timbered windows and a tall clock-tower. These buildings have mullion windows (with vertical stone bars) and Tudor arched doorways. Also near the courtyard are the brew house, one of the oldest in Britain, and the bakehouse. The two small lodges are from the 1600s, and the carriage-houses are from the 1700s.
Lacock Abbey Today: A National Treasure
Lacock Abbey is now owned by the National Trust. It was given to them in 1944 by Matilda Gilchrist-Clark. She had inherited the estate from her uncle, Charles Henry Fox Talbot, in 1916. The abbey is a Grade I listed building, meaning it is a very important historic site. It was given this status on December 20, 1960.
The Fox Talbot Museum is located on the ground floor. It celebrates the life of William Henry Fox Talbot. It also shows his important work in photography. The museum has exhibits about Talbot himself. It shows his "mousetrap camera" (which his wife called it because he left small wooden boxes around the house). It also explains the chemical processes used to create images and the early history of photography. Sometimes, a gallery on the first floor shows works by different photographers. In 2017, the Fenton Collection, a historic photo collection, was moved to the museum.
Lacock Abbey on Screen: Movies and TV Shows
Lacock Abbey has been used as a filming location for many movies and TV shows.
Some parts of the movies Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were filmed here. This includes the cloister walk where Harry finds the Mirror of Erised. Scenes from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald were also shot at the abbey.
The abbey was also a main location for the 2008 film The Other Boleyn Girl. Parts of the 2010 horror film The Wolfman, starring Anthony Hopkins, were filmed at the abbey.
The inside of the abbey was used in the 1995 BBC/A&E TV show Pride and Prejudice. It was also used for the BBC show Moll Flanders. Scenes for the BBC historical TV series Wolf Hall were filmed here in 2014.
See also
In Spanish: Abadía de Lacock para niños
