Greetings all,
We're in London Sept 23-Oct 3. We are working on a couple of day trips, and I would love to photograph one (or more) of the ruined abbeys. Are there any that are both reachable by train and easily reachable from the destination train station? I ran a search and did not find anything immediate on this topic.
Thanks!
Ted
You can see ruins of St. Augustine's Abbey just across from Canterbury Cathedral. And there are abbey ruins in the park surrounding Bury St. Edmunds Cathedral.
This kinda thing.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/netley-abbey/
St. Mary's Abbey in York is really now just one long wall and a corner, a shell of what it was, but it is beautiful and sits in the scenic park of the Yorkshire Museum. You can find many photos online to see what it's like. All the sites in York are easily accessible from the train station and are worth visiting. York makes a long but worthwhile day trip or overnight from London, but perhaps too far if the only thing you want to see there is the abbey.
I can't see how you could get out to Tintern Abbey in three and a half hours. There's probably two or three buses involved and most of those in that little corner only run hourly and the chance of making perfect connections is pretty slim.
Netley's a good one, right up there with Witby except for the setting.
Edit: The first part of this response makes little sense since a previous post suggesting Tintern Abbey has disappeared.
The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey in Glastonbury are wonderful. You can take a train to Bath from London's Paddington station; takes about an hour and a half to get to Bath. Then a local bus to the town of Glastonbury. The abbey adjoins the town, isn't out in the countryside. If you can get a bus to Glastonbury you can walk to the abbey. The bus station is right next door to the train station in Bath. I am not sure if the bus to Glastonbury would also depart from that station though -- that may be only "city" buses for Bath. So, check nationalexpress.com for bus information from Bath to Glastonbury.
Additionally, at the website for the abbey it says:
"By Train:
The nearest train station to Glastonbury is Castle Cary (on the London Paddington to Plymouth line). Transport to Glastonbury is only by taxi from here.
Alternatives are to travel to Bristol Temple Meads, Bath or Taunton. Onward travel can be via public service bus.
For accurate train times and information, please visit the First Great Western website."
Ann
Battle is about an hour and half from London - very regular trains go to Battle from Charing Cross, Waterloo East, and London Bridge. The Abbey is about a 10-15 minute walk from the Battle railway station. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/1066-battle-of-hastings-abbey-and-battlefield/
While not as massive as a ruined abbey, St Dunstan in the East is a ruined church in the middle of London. It was bombed during the blitz and has been turned into a public garden. It's located a short walk from the Tower so if you're in the area definitely stop by and have a look.
You might enjoy Bayham Old Abbey, fairly close to Tunbridge Wells , east of London. If you look it up on the English Heritage website, it will tell you how to get there. The abbey wasn't crowded when we went there and it had a lovely "ruined abbey" atmosphere.
http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/bayham-old-abbey/directions
