Lilleshall Abbey is 1 mile to the SE of Lilleshall village, 4 miles NE of Telford in the E of central Shropshire. The ruined site, now administered by English Heritage, is at the end of a track on the N side of the minor road linking Lilleshall and Weston Heath. What survives is the church, a cruciform building with a 4-bay chancel, 2 bay transepts with E chapels and a long, aisleless nave. The cloister is on the S side of the nave, and substantial remains of the E and S ranges survive. These are treated as a separate site (Lilleshall Abbey Cloister Buildings).
Of the church, the chancel, transepts and crossing are late-12thc, while the rest of the nave, except for the E bay which goes with the crossing, dates from the 13thc. The crossing is unusual in that the W crossing piers are larger and more complex than the E, because the W crossing arch was by far the most elaborate, with extra orders framing the view into the chancel. Unfortunately, little survives of this above base plinth level, so the only crossing arches that can be described in any detail are the S arch and the E arch. The most impressive Romanesque feature is the doorway from the cloister into the first nave bay on the S side.The chancel is 4 bays long, 2 storeys high and vaulted. The vault responds and their capitals survive and are described below. The S transept arch responds and their capitals survive, but little remains of the N transept. The most impressive Romanesque feature is the doorway from the cloister into the first nave bay on the S side.