Garendon Abbey

Garendon Abbey stands in the Leicestershire countryside between Shepshed and Loughborough. Founded in 1133 by Robert de Beaumont, the second Earl of Leicester, it became a daughter house of Waverley Abbey in Surrey. The abbey grew quickly, gaining lands across Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. By the 13th century it owned granges for sheep farming and two daughter houses in Buckinghamshire and Worcestershire. Its finances later declined, leaving debts of £120 by 1295, and it was dissolved in 1536 under Henry VIII. The abbey’s church was demolished after the Dissolution, and the site passed to the Earls of Rutland. They built Garendon House, later enlarged into Garendon Hall in the Palladian style. The estate included landscaped parkland and follies designed by Ambrose Phillipps after his Grand Tour. The house was damaged during the Second World War and later demolished in 1964. Excavations in 1966–68 uncovered the foundations of the chapter house, dormitory and transept chapels. Today the abbey’s remains lie within the grounds of the former estate. The exposed foundations of the chapter house and drains are visible, along with monastic fishponds. The ruins and surrounding area are Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The site offers a quiet place to walk among the remnants of a once-great abbey, with only the earthworks and stone outlines marking its past.