Abbots Walk
(In the Appreciation as "Abbey Workshop")


(Grade II listed in 1956 as "Estate Workshop", and now Grade II* listed as "Abbott's (sic) Walk")

The building is described in the listings register as 14th and 17th century with 19th century arches. The 2003 Conservation Plan for the Abbey precinct agrees that the north, south and east walls may be monastic remains, on to which have been added a 16th or 17th century south wall (the one in the photographs) and a two-storey garderobe in the north-east corner.

It was used as a workshop by Estate staff until some time in the 1950s or 60s. The cart doors (now converted to windows) were inserted in the 19th century, and the roof was possibly rebuilt in 1973, when the one-time workshop was in the process of being converted into a private house ~ the 1973 photograph on the left above clearly shows the work in progress, while the one on the right shows the result, complete with the roof work done in 2003-04.

The Conservation Plan suggests that this building may have been lodgings or a service building for the monastery ~ it has been identified as the Abbot's lodgings in published work since 1887, and there are burial sites nearby. It was surveyed in 1938, but the survey missed the fact that the building tapers from east to west.

The building is called "Abbots Ward" in the Conservation Plan, and this is the name on the sign by the 1973 photograph of the Archway, but it is now known as as "Abbots Walk". It remains a private house.

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