The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Ruined church, formerly Augustinian abbey
Ruined church, formerly Augustinian abbey
The church consists of a nave measuring 17.25 m x 6.8 m internally and a chancel 5.76
m in length. A later range of conventual buildings lies S of the E end of the nave.
The N wall of the nave collapsed in the 15thc. and was rebuilt further S, in line
with the N wall of the chancel. There is a doorway near the W end of the N wall of
the nave and two doorways near the E end of the S wall of the nave, one leading into
the sacristy, the other to the exterior. (Leask’s plan also shows a W doorway). There
is a doorway near the W end of the N wall of the nave and two doorways near the E end
of the S wall of the nave, one leading into the sacristy, the other to the exterior.
(Leask’s plan also shows a W doorway).
Ruined church, formerly Augustinian abbey
The ruins of Lesnes Abbey lie between Abbey Road and Lesnes Abbey Woods at Belvedere, formerly part of Kent but now in the London borough of Bexley in SE London. In the Middle Ages the river Thames and its marshland were much closer to the abbey.
The ruins include the restored foundations of the abbey church. The church was set out during the founder's lifetime (d. 1179), and consisted of an aisled nave, transepts with three eastern chapels on each side, and an aisleless presbytery. The total internal length of the church was 234 ft. and 66 ft. across the transepts; this makes it one of the largest Augustinian naves in Britain. The abbey was built of Kentish ragstone, flint and chalk.
The ruins were excavated by the Woolwich Antiquarian Society in 1909, up to 1930 by Sir Alfred Clapham, and between 1939 and 1951 by E C Elliston Erwood for the London County Council who owned them at that time.
Ruined church, formerly Augustinian abbey
Keynsham commands a strategic position on the south side of the Avon, overlooking both that river and its tributary from the Mendip Hills to the south, the Chew. It controls the road between Bristol (giving access to the Bristol Channel and beyond) and Bath (giving access to London) on its side of the river. The road now running from Keynsham to Willsbridge, west of Bitton, probably represents an important ancient route.
Keynsham Abbey was founded as a house of Augustinian canons c1166. The Abbey precinct occupied c.18 acres above the left bank of the Chew, c.200m above its confluence with the Avon. After the Dissolution, the Abbey was demolished piecemeal over 400 years. The Abbey Church lay in a garden in Abbey Park, and has been the subject of several excavations which have yielded Romanesque sculpture (Brock, 1875, Lowe et al. 1987, 2004, 2005). There is a plan of the Abbey in Lowe 2004 and on the Keynsham Abbey website. Elements of sculpture from the Abbey can be seen embedded in the late 17thc archway of Park House (formerly Keynsham House). There is a lapidary collection in Keynsham Town Hall. Other elements of sculpture are located in the Crown Inn, the former Somerdale Factory site and Bristol Road arches. These sites are the subject of separate reports.