Courtyard tea-room
Ambitious Tudor courtier, William Sharington, purchased the abbey in 1540 after it closed as a nunnery. Sharington converted it into his family home, keeping much of the original building and adding some of the earliest Renaissance-inspired architecture in Britain, including his iconic octagonal tower.
He added the courtyard (or Stable Court), reportedly using stone from the demolished abbey church. The original entrance was through a two storey medieval gatehouse, which was later replaced with the current entrance.
The courtyard that you see today is much as Sharington’s Stable Court would have been, including his bakehouse, brewhouse and stables. Later owners made some alterations including William Henry Fox Talbot who added the low range of coach houses in around 1838.
In 2017 we introduced the Courtyard tea-room, with hot drinks, warming soups and daily specials, right in the heart of the abbey.