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Key Image Shrewsbury Abbey
Abbey Foregate
SY2 6BS Shrewsbury
United Kingdom
Denomination: Anglican
Congregation: Holy Cross Shrewsbury (Diocese of Lichfield, Archdeaconry of Salop, Shrewsbury)
Geogr. Coordinates: 52.70756° N, 2.74403° W
Geo Location
Reference year: 1083
Architectural style: Gothic (Perpendicular)
Building type: Basilica
Description: Three-aisled, predominantly Gothic basilica with a west tower and rectangular chancel, some Norman remains in the nave and at the western end
Name derivation: From its foundation as a church for the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury
Noteworthy
  • Pulpit of the former refectory (14th cent.)
Font
  • Baptismal font carved from a Roman column brought from the nearby Roman city of Viroconium (Wroxeter); “old” baptismal font dating from 1653 in the Lady Chapel
Organ
  • Built in 1911 by William Hill and Son
Windows
  • Tracery of the west window (1380), St Winefride window (Jane Grey, 1992) and St Benedict window (Jane Grey, 1997; with an homage to Ellis Peters and her novel character from Shrewsbury Abbey, the Benedictine monk and apothecary Brother Cadfael)
Noteworthy
  • Various tomb slabs and epitaphs including for Roger de Montgomery (kinsman of William the Conqueror, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, d. 1094) and Richard Onslow (Speaker of the House of Commons, d. 1571) and his wife Katharine
History:
25/02/1083:   Founded by Roger de Montgomery as a Benedictine abbey church in place of a Saxon precursor
1087:   Start of regular monastic life
1138:   Transfer of the remains of St Winefride
1283:   Abbey Chapter House used for the first Parliament, in which commoners took part
14th cent.:   Construction of the tower, replacement of the three western Norman bays by Gothic bays
About 1540:   After dissolution and closure of the monastery the shrine of St Winefride is destroyed, choir and transept are demolished; the nave is left to serve as the parish church
24/01/1540:   Surrender of the Abbey at Shrewsbury by the last abbot
1652:   After three years of work completion of the repair of the north wall, which was heavily damaged during the Civil War
05/12/1887:   Consecration of the newly constructed choir and chancel (architect John L. Pearson)
Important persons:
Monument:  Peters, Ellis (pen name of Edith Mary Pargeter, 1913–1995, author of 21 detective stories featuring Brother Cadfael, set in and around Shrewsbury Abbey at the time of the civil war between Stephen and Maud in the 12th cent.)
Owen, Wilfred (1893–1918, poet and soldier and a brutally realistic eyewitness of the First World War in English literature)
Patron:  Winifred/Gwenffrewi (also “Winefride”, ?–650, Welsh nun and martyr)
Paul (7/10–60/68, Apostle)
Peter (1–64 (?), apostle and martyr)
Dimensions:
Tower Height [m]:  31.7
Sources
Ross, Ian et al.: Shrewsbury Abbey, RJL Smith & Associates, Much Wenlock 2015
Whiteman, Robert: Die Welt des Bruders Cadfael, Heyne, München 1996
Wikipedia: Shrewsbury Abbey, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrewsbury_Abbey
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TuK Bassler
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