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Buildwas Abbey

📍 Shropshire, England

4.2 ★★★★ 680 reviews

About

Buildwas Abbey was a Cistercian monastery located on the banks of the River Severn, at Buildwas in Shropshire, England - today about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Ironbridge. Founded by the local bishop in 1135, it was sparsely endowed at the outset but enjoyed several periods of growth and increasing wealth: notably under Abbot Ranulf in the second half of the 12th century and again from the mid-13th century, when large numbers of acquisitions were made from the local landed gentry. Abbots were regularly used as agents by the Plantagenet monarchs in their attempts to subdue Ireland and Wales and the abbey acquired a daughter house in each country.

Founded in 1135 by Roger de Clinton, Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, originally as a Savigniac house before joining the Cistercians. Mother house of St Mary's Abbey Dublin and Basingwerk Abbey in Wales. Dissolved in 1536. The impressive nave arcade and chapter house survive. Managed by English Heritage in Shropshire near the Ironbridge Gorge.