St Mary's Abbey is a Grade I listed building in the East Suffolk local planning authority area, England. First listed on 13 March 1951. A C12 Abbey. 2 related planning applications.
St Mary's Abbey
- WRENN ID
- outer-spire-gilt
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- East Suffolk
- Constituency
- Suffolk Coastal MP: Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 13 March 1951
- Type
- Abbey
- Address
- St Mary's Abbey, Abbey Road, Leiston, IP16 4RF
- OS grid reference
- TM 445 641
- Coordinates
- 52.22158, 1.57841
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
St Mary's Abbey is the ruin of a Premonstratensian Abbey founded in 1182. It was moved to its current site in 1363 and rebuilt after a fire in 1382. The remaining walls are made of coursed flint, with some reused brick and flushwork, particularly noticeable in St Mary's Chapel, also known as the Lady Chapel. The church originally featured a nave, aisles, a square crossing, transepts, a chancel, and chancel aisles. St Mary's Chapel, located in the north chancel aisle, was once used as a granary and was restored for worship in the 20th century. To the south of the church, there are extensive remains of the monastic ranges, which include the refectory, warming house, cloister, sacristies, and vestries. The chapter house was situated to the east of the cloister. Additionally, there are remains of an early 16th-century brick gatehouse to the west of the cloister. The site is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.
Local climate
St Mary's Abbey sits in a drier-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 720 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 84% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 61% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 12 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 89% of listed buildings. Of these, 7 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- Sale history — 1 transaction since 2008
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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