Remains Of Old Fonthill Abbey

The remains of Old Fonthill Abbey are the vestiges of a Gothic country house fantasy built between 1796 and around 1818 by James Wyatt for William Beckford. Further alterations occurred in the 1840s. The building was constructed of limestone ashlar with a Welsh slate roof. The majority of the vast, cruciform structure was demolished; the tower collapsed in 1825, and the other three wings were removed around 1845 during building works for the Marquess of Westminster’s new Fonthill Abbey, designed by Burn.

What now stands is primarily a fragment of the north wing, dominated by the Lancaster Tower, with a two-storey wing attached to its north side. The four-storey tower has angle buttresses. The west side features two lancet windows on the ground floor, a three-light Perpendicular-style window with a hoodmould on the first floor, an oriel window displaying heraldic shields below, and casement windows on the second floor. The third floor has a blocked mullioned window with a hoodmould, topped by a battlemented parapet rising to a pitched roof. A two-storey range to the left has three small lancets on the ground floor and three large pointed lancets with hoodmoulds on the first floor, finished with a battlemented parapet and corner pinnacles. The left return has an angular two-storey bay featuring a Tudor-arched window and lancets with tracery—some of which are blind—supported by buttresses with offsets and a battlemented parapet. The rear of this range includes lancets and a Tudor-arched doorway. The right return of the tower incorporates a two-light Perpendicular window with wooden tracery, inserted into a wall that followed the demolition of a formerly attached range. To the rear of the tower is a square stair turret with chamfered loopholes. The rear of the tower also presents Tudor-arched windows with casements and a blind lancet with a hoodmould. Adjoining the rear of the two-storey range is a single-storey cloister range, rebuilt in its current location after the demolition of the rest of the Abbey. This section features five bays of chamfered Tudor-arched openings, topped with a flat roof. To the right are 3-light and 2-light mullioned casements, a planked door with hoodmoulds, and a double-gabled roof with a parapet and crocketed pinnacles. The right part concludes with an octagonal turret boasting an open cupola supported on shafts and topped by an octagonal pointed roof with a finial.

During a survey in December 1985, the interior was partly inaccessible, but the ground floor retained Tudor-arched openings and a fireplace, likely reset. The tower’s first floor and attached short range to the north contained the Vaulted Corridor, the Oratory, and the Sanctuary, with bedrooms on the two floors above, including the state bedroom; no original fittings remain. Service quarters were located on the ground floor. Fonthill Abbey was originally approached from the west via a wooded avenue, half a mile long, nestled within woodland—partly planted by Beckford—and enclosed by a wall constructed in 1793. The site is of group value as the only tangible remnant of what was an extraordinary house.