Twyford Abbey, London Nov '10

Derelict Places

Help Support Derelict Places:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mookster

Veteran Member
Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 8, 2009
Messages
2,682
Reaction score
7,799
Location
Oxford
This was the first port of call on my London daytrip, a site that I'd only seen reported once earlier this year and instantly wanted to see, despite it being totally and utterly fooked, and described back in April as treacherous. The report wasn't wrong, this one was cut short by almost pitch-black rooms with death trap floors of truly epic proportions and a small run in with some builders. It's a fantastic looking place though.

Here's some history:

Twyford Abbey started life in middle ages as the West Twyford manor house. It belonged to the lords of the manor of West Twyford who owned the surrounding land. By 1593 it was the only inhabited house in West Twyford, with a small private chapel.

West Twyford manor house was partially demolished around 1715 and the chapel rebuilt around that time.

In 1806 the manor house was sold to Thomas Willan, a stagecoarch proprietor. He wanted to turn the house into a 'Gothic' mansion. Architect William Atkinson designed an extension around the original house in a Gothic style, filled the genuine medieval moat and altered the church.

In keeping with the spirit of the age Willan gave his house a romantic pseudo-monastic association, calling it 'Twyford Abbey'. In 1816 Twyford Abbey was described as 'striking and extremely fine'.

This was the only building in the area, and soon the name Twyford Abbey was applied to the whole of West Twyford.

In 1902 the Abbey was bought by the Alexian Brothers, a Roman Catholic order who set up a nursing home there. St. Mary's church, disused at the time, was re-opened for weekly services in 1907.

The Alexian Brothers enlarged and changed the house several times.

The nursing home closed in 1988 and as a result the Abbey now appears to be neglected.

Pics (not too many because of the state of the place and the shortness of our visit):

5185090747_ebe83e45d7_z.jpg


5185054359_aefb5fbc73_z.jpg


5185660308_2b7505c572_z.jpg


5185065905_a730682a91_z.jpg


5185071901_07c25471ea_z.jpg


5185069999_d1d5c78d45_z.jpg


5185675640_265d7393dd_z.jpg


5185080549_020c9785bc_z.jpg


5185085669_e1b9ab935c_z.jpg


Few more pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/mookie427/sets/72157625411896126/

Thanks for looking!
 
Lovely pics, gives a great feel of the place, nice bit of dereliction.
 
cheers, we didn't even get into the original old parts, the floors are even worse in there!
 
Twyford Abbey - December 2010

wooo, managed to finally take a peek into twyford abbey, ealing/park royal london.

bit of a pain to get into, requires a bit of ingenuity to get to it, but due to the shear size of the place, it can be well worth the hassle!

don't suggest trying it now though, its in mid demolition and is just about to become a live site, most of the floors are rotten and have been torn up so its quite a dangerous site.

sadly Twyford abbey will be lost to the world.


o_O ~ Quack ~ o_O
 
Well done for getting to the parts I didn't reach.

Here are some photos from 2006: Twyford Abbey - a set on Flickr.

Is Twyford Abbey really in the process of being demolished? Shame - and I thought it was Grade 1 Listed - but given its state I suppose it's inevitable after 22 years of neglect.
 
Well done for getting to the parts I didn't reach.

Here are some photos from 2006: Twyford Abbey - a set on Flickr.

Is Twyford Abbey really in the process of being demolished? Shame - and I thought it was Grade 1 Listed - but given its state I suppose it's inevitable after 22 years of neglect.

I think it was that set which got the gears turning for this one, would have loved to see the hall.

Real shame if it is being flattened, although the place is in such a state it's unsurprising now.
 
Yeah, the abbey is impressive, lots of work going on there! new fence up around the building and plenty of guard dog signs. The buildings is amazing inside, but a few rooms we went in the floor actually fell in! pretty scary when your trying to get over to the other side, keep an eye out for the pics, il post as soon as they are uploaded :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top