Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire.
Visited with huey.
After a close shave at an old school that looked just as shit as it did secure, I suggested that we check out this old abbey that has alluded me for some time. In the past it appeared that there was live-in security, but a couple of dumped cars and the fact no one answered our knocks suggested that perhaps this wasn't the case after all.
Wrong. About 30 minutes in, huey opened a door expecting to find another stripped bedroom and ended up walking straight into someones living room! Fortunately no one was home and we thought fuck it, let's keep going, in for a penny in for a pound! It would appear that matey boy is one of those ghastly dreadlocked types and that he's using the corridors as one big motocross circuit, judging by the skidmarks and the biking paraphernalia knocking about the place.
Outside the building doesn't look like much, but inside it's actually quite stylish and has barely been altered since the early 70s. The laundry and kitchens are nice, and the print shop and bookbinders were an unexpected find but the real paydirt was naturally downstairs in the chapel which was stunning!
History
If I'm honest I think a conversion to luxury apartments sounds a bit fanciful. I forgot to take any external photos as per, so I've pilfered one from flickr. As you can see it's not exactly pretty, but I suppose it's a good example of its style and its actually built to a pretty high standard, at a time when the church had money. In fact I quite like it.
The Chapel
For a building that is so brutal on the outside this was a beautiful space.
I've got a real thing for contemporary stained glass:
Entrance hall
Refectory
Kitchens
Recreation room (I think it had some stupid name like Calefactory)
Smaller chapel at accommodation level:
Another nice find was a room with hundreds of schematics and blueprints of the building dating back to the mid-60s. The place is full of little rooms with absurd names like ambulacrum, novice cell and 'tramps shelter' whatever that is.
All that's left of the library:
Laundry
Print Shop
Visited with huey.
After a close shave at an old school that looked just as shit as it did secure, I suggested that we check out this old abbey that has alluded me for some time. In the past it appeared that there was live-in security, but a couple of dumped cars and the fact no one answered our knocks suggested that perhaps this wasn't the case after all.
Wrong. About 30 minutes in, huey opened a door expecting to find another stripped bedroom and ended up walking straight into someones living room! Fortunately no one was home and we thought fuck it, let's keep going, in for a penny in for a pound! It would appear that matey boy is one of those ghastly dreadlocked types and that he's using the corridors as one big motocross circuit, judging by the skidmarks and the biking paraphernalia knocking about the place.
Outside the building doesn't look like much, but inside it's actually quite stylish and has barely been altered since the early 70s. The laundry and kitchens are nice, and the print shop and bookbinders were an unexpected find but the real paydirt was naturally downstairs in the chapel which was stunning!
History
If I'm honest I think a conversion to luxury apartments sounds a bit fanciful. I forgot to take any external photos as per, so I've pilfered one from flickr. As you can see it's not exactly pretty, but I suppose it's a good example of its style and its actually built to a pretty high standard, at a time when the church had money. In fact I quite like it.
The Chapel
For a building that is so brutal on the outside this was a beautiful space.
I've got a real thing for contemporary stained glass:
Entrance hall
Refectory
Kitchens
Recreation room (I think it had some stupid name like Calefactory)
Smaller chapel at accommodation level:
Another nice find was a room with hundreds of schematics and blueprints of the building dating back to the mid-60s. The place is full of little rooms with absurd names like ambulacrum, novice cell and 'tramps shelter' whatever that is.
All that's left of the library:
Laundry
Print Shop
