Beauchief Abbey

The portal to the west front of Beauchief Abbey

Founded by the Premonstratensian order c.1176 and dissolved by Henry VIII in 1536, Beauchief Abbey is essentially a ruin and, except for the remaining part of the west front, which was incorporated into the new church of St. Thomas Becket around 1660 – comprising a simple nave and tower – nearly all of the stonework has been demolished and removed.

The west front of Beauchief Abbey

The west front is built of large, squared blocks of massive Millstone Grit, with slightly larger ashlar blocks used for the stepped buttresses, with roughly coursed Greenmoor Rock used for walling to the other elevations of the tower, as well as in the 17th century nave.

A detail of the Millstone Grit used for walling to the west front

The latter is a fine grained, laminated sandstone with limited bed heights, which make it unsuitable as a freestone, and this – together with concentrations of haematite along the joints and bedding planes that give many of the blocks a distinctive brown colouration – make it relatively easy to distinguish it from the stone used for the quoins and dressings.

The window to the west front

Various doors and windows, seen when walking around the abbey, show various different styles, with Sir Nikolaus Pevsner assigning an Early English Gothic date to the west portal and a Decorated Gothic date to the large window above it, which contains fragments of tracery.

An adapted doorway in the south elevation of the nave

The doorways to the north and south side of the west front are considered to be late 12th and early 14th century respectively, but both have been relocated from their original position within the abbey. Also, the door to the north side of the tower has a 14th century ogee arch and the south elevation of the nave contains a 12th century door, which has been converted into a window.

A doorway with an ogee arch and finial

Having had a good look at the fabric of the abbey, I then set off to explore its grounds and I was very interested to discover a group of archaeology students from Sheffield University. 

A view of  Beauchief Abbey from the east