Holy Cross Abbey

Holy Cross Abbey is an early 19th-century abbey featuring monastic buildings from the 1840s and a church constructed between 1847 and 1851 by Charles Hansom. This monastery was established for Cistercian nuns who migrated from Revolutionary France and includes a range of domestic and conventual buildings located to the south of the church. The walls are made of brickwork in both English and Flemish bonds. The church has a steep slate roof, while the other ranges have slate roofs, with later extensions featuring tile roofs.

The church consists of two parallel sections for lay and monastic use, each with a chancel of two bays and a nave of five bays, along with a later aisle added to the north of the lay nave. The architectural style is Early English, characterized by lancets and coupled lancets beneath quatrefoils, as well as large east windows in the coupled gables. The west end features a large window on the north side, and the south gable is integrated with a slender tower that narrows at the bell stage and culminates in a tall pyramid roof. Although there is a north porch, the main entrance is located in the west gable.

Inside the church, there are two arcades supported by octagonal columns with moulded caps, and a screen separates the two sections. The ranges include the earlier house, which has been occupied since 1802, and the west elevation of this house is two storeys high, featuring a main entrance with a Gothic porch. The cemetery on the grounds contains a memorial cross from 1844, designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin, in memory of the abbess Mde.de Chabannes.