The present day Buildwas Abbey is the ruins of what was quite a good sized Cistercian Abbey in the 12th century. It began life in 1135 when the Bishop of Chester brought some monks over from Normandy.

Located on the banks of The Severn, monks from the abbey were the first to build a bridge over the river at Buildwas. Originally constructed by the monks of stone, the medieval design had four spans totalling 100 feet. As a tribute to the monks’ workmanship, the bridge stood firm until the severe floods of 1795 destroyed it. It was Thomas Telford who replaced it with his “first” cast iron bridge, during our Industrial Revolution.

As the monks began to prosper from approximately 1155 onwards, their estate grew. They constructed a Cistercian abbey church 180 feet in length with assorted buildings and a cloister.

In 1536 their life was to change due to Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries campaign. The suppression resulted in the monks’ way of life being lost forever. The grounds and buildings took on a new way of life as a Tudor mansion and farm for the Lord of Powis.

The mansion (formerly the Abbot’s housing) is the most complete, but private, viewable only from the grounds of the abbey or from the Buildwas Nature Trail. The ruins you can walk through today are the church, cloisters and only a small portion of the once large estate.

The location is sunny, partially secluded and whether the weather is fair or foul, it always has a certain aura. The stones take on different colours with the varying light or dampness and the tree tops sometimes whisper like monks saying prayers. It’s nice just to sit on the benches and contemplate.

Your first point of entry is the main church. The rows of columns on your left indicate the location of the nave. To your right is a tower and presbytery where mass was given.

The design of the church is cruciform (the shape of the cross).

This church served monks who followed a heavy schedule of prayer. It also served people who decided to join the order late in their lives. The latecomers were called conversi and were most useful to the monks as labourers.

The English Heritage guidebook provides you with a concise tour of the grounds while elaborating on the many duties of the monks during their day. The book starts with what you can see today and then helps you envision what the total building looked like, how it was used, how it was decorated and where renovations or additions were made.

In walking about you can see in the South Chapel some old grave slabs in the ground and some remnants of old tiles.

Because what you see today is the skeleton of the abbey, sometimes it’s hard to remember that there would have been decorated tiled flooring, wooden timbers, painted plaster-work, books and furnishings.

It is quite nice to be able to walk into the Book Room where the monks’ manuscripts and books were kept and imagine them studying. The number of books that have been found from Buildwas exceeds the number from any other Cistercian abbey in the U.K. and some were even made on location. The curved stone ceiling and tiled flooring are worth noting.

The Chapter House, however is my favourite, it provides a vision of the artistry and craftsmanship of the times. The arched ribs reaching out and up from the columns are breathtaking. There is also a selection of the abbey’s tiles for viewing.

The Parlour is another room with more arched rib work of a less grand scale of Chapter House, but befitting of the room’s size.

A point to remember as you walk around is that there were floors above you as well.

Today you have blue skies and sunshine looking down on you, but monks lived as very rigid and secluded life style.

For a time the monks at Buildwas had extensive holdings until bad management and individual weaknesses started its decline. It was Henry VIII who actually brought an end to monastic live at Buildwas in 1536.

Today English Heritage protects the ruins and Ironbridge Power Station owns what was the Dayroom, the Infirmary and the Abbot’s Housing.

Woodland Walk on the old abbey grounds.

If you want to walk in the footsteps of the monks, you can walk the small wood adjacent to the ruins. The Ironbridge Power Station Social Club (located next to the abbey ruins) has a leaflet titled-Buildwas Nature Trail which gives more history of the grounds.

The trail includes an area where the monks made use of the Farley Dingle Brook and the flooding of the River Severn to construct fish ponds.

In its later life the area was a private estate and specimen trees were planted in the late 1870’s.

The trail starts at the old Abbot’s lodging and you walk past the ruins of the Infirmary and along an ancient apple corridor to the woods and stream.

The trees have been listed for identification and you will be able to observe wildlife as you walk through the grounds and over a stone bridge crossing Farley Dingle Brook.

You can walk to the banks of the Severn before having to start a circular return.

On your return you will be walking in an area which is scooped out, this is the area where the monks’ fish ponds used to be in the 1200-1500’s.

After completing the walk if you look to the left of the pig sties and apple trees there is a picnic area with some benches and an area for children to play.

The woodland walk leaflet is free and available from a box at the start of the nature trail.