Founded in 1232 and converted into a country house c1540, the fine medieval cloisters, sacristy, chapter house and monastic rooms of the Abbey have survived largely intact. The handsome16th-century stable courtyard has half-timbered gables, a clockhouse, brewery and bakehouse. The Victorian woodland garden boasts a fine display of spring flowers, magnificent trees, an 18th Century summer-house, Victorian rose garden and ha-ha.

The Museum of Photography commemorates the achievements of a former resident of the Abbey, William Fox Talbot (1800–77), inventor of the modern photographic negative and whose descendants gave the abbey and village to the National Trust in 1944. The village, which dates from the 13th Century and has many limewashed half-timbered and stone houses, was used as a location in the TV and film productions of Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders and Emma. The Abbey also featured in the films of Harry Potter.

Contact

Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum and Village
Lacock
Near Chippenham

Tel: 01249 730227

Further Information

The National Trust website: www.nationaltrust.org.uk.