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Bolton Abbey

A panoramic view of Bolton Abbey ruins with a wide, brown river in the foreground.

Sunday 02 July
Depart: Parkinson Steps: 13.00
Arrive: Parkinson Steps: 19.00
Price: £28.00

The beautiful setting of Bolton Priory has inspired artists and writers by, in the words of John Ruskin, its ‘sweet peace and tender decay’ (1856). The ruins of the medieval priory and its church are within the wooded valley of the river Wharf and provide a glimpse of both medieval and 18th-century approaches to medieval buildings.

In this excursion, delegates will walk down from the village with its shops and facilities to explore the abbey ruins and look at its conversion to a parish church after the Reformation. Architectural periods from the 12th to the 16th century can be seen here, and we’ll discover how the later builders responded to the work of their predecessors, and why the site became the haunt of the Romantic artists and writers.

This excursion will be led by Jenny Alexander and Bryony Wilde (both Department of Art History, University of Warwick). For more information about Bolton Abbey, please visit www.boltonabbey.com/.