ABBEYS AND PRIORIES

from English Heritage Venue Hire 2023

FILM IN A LOCATION WITH HISTORY

The soaring remains of England’s abbeys and priories have inspired writers, artists and creators for hundreds of years. Once great centres of learning, commerce and religious life, many of them suffered from destruction, looting and neglect in the years after the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1500s. But by the 18th century, poets and painters were rediscovering the romance of these picturesque ruins, and people have been flocking to them ever since.

Some of the country’s finest examples of these lost religious houses can be found within the English Heritage portfolio.

Highlights include: Rievaulx Abbey with its graceful arches set against the wooded hills of the North York Moors; Battle Abbey said to be built on the very spot where King Harold was killed in 1066; the brick-vaulted 14th-century undercroft of St Olave’s Priory the stout columns of Buildwas Abbey by the banks of the River Severn, and Whitby Abbey – a striking Gothic masterpiece rising high on the cliffs above the seaside town below - now inextricably linked with stories of Saxon saints, and one of the settings for Bram Stoker’s classic horror novel, Dracula

Past productions

Coldplay live performance, 2021 at Whitby Abbey

Gentleman Jack, 2020-21 at Rievaulx Abbey

Dracula, 2020 at Whitby Abbey

The Mummy, 2017 at Waverley Abbey

The Huntsman: Winter’s War, 2016 at Waverley Abbey

Castles

With their thick stone walls and towering keeps, England’s medieval castles are among the country’s most evocative historic sites. Built not only for power but for prestige and pleasure, they range from sprawling fortresses guarding borders and coasts to isolated outposts sited for scenery rather than strategy.

English Heritage cares for 66 castles, including the vast fortress of Dover Castle, with its Norman tower, networks of underground tunnels and 20th-century military installations; the hollow keep of Carisbrooke Castle set high atop a grassy mound overlooking the countryside of the Isle of Wight; the romantic remains of Barnard Castle set above a wooded gorge of the River Tees; Carlisle Castle the imposing storm-centre of border wars between the English and the Scots; the twin towered gatehouse of Donnington Castle; the ragged clifftop ruins of siege-battered Scarborough Castle and the romantic red sandstone remains of Kenilworth Castle , a medieval stronghold which was transformed into a Renaissance palace to impress Elizabeth I.

Past productions

My Lady Jane, 2023 at Dover Castle

Catherine Called Birdy, 2021 at Stokesay Castle

Scarborough, 2019-20 at Scarborough Castle

Wolf Hall, 2015 at Dover Castle

The Other Boleyn Girl, 2008 at Dover Castle

Elizabeth, 1998 at Warkworth Castle

Gardens

The 23 historic gardens in our care are colourful and ever-changing reminders of England’s proud horticultural past. They range from French-style formal parterres to Italianate flower-filled terraces, and from sweeping picturesque parklands to the intimate garden ‘rooms’ popular in the Edwardian era.

Our locations include Down House , the family home of Charles Darwin, who refined his theory of evolution amid a charming collection of meadows, woodlands, colourful borders and a productive kitchen garden; the dazzling gardens of Audley End containing colourful parterres, a Victorian walled kitchen garden, acres of Capability Brown-designed parkland and grand stables; Brodsworth Hall , with restored rose gardens, winding pathways and quirky garden follies; the Arts and Crafts gardens of Mount Grace Priory surrounded by woodlands; the honey-coloured, flower-filled Italianate terraces of Osborne the breathtaking Archer Pavilion crowning the Long Water of Wrest Park ; and the contemporary serenity of the Queen Mother’s Garden at Walmer Castle

Past productions

Queens that Changed the World, 2023 at Osborne

Downton Abbey: A New Era, 2022 at Wrest Park

Victoria and Abdul, 2017 at Osborne

Darkest Hour, 2017 at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens

Testament of Youth, 2014 at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens

Absolute Genius, 2014 at Down House

Country Houses

With their grand reception rooms, impeccable décor and picturesque settings, English country houses are testaments to the style, taste and immense wealth of their owners. But take the back stairs, squeeze through hidden corridors and cross the threshold of the kitchen and you’ll get a fascinating glimpse into a lost world of service – an age of liveried footmen, of stable boys and chauffeurs, of cooks at huge steaming ranges and impeccably mannered butlers gliding between the gilded rooms above stairs and the domestic drudgery below.

Some of England’s finest country houses can be found in our collection, like the splendid stuccoed Georgian mansion of Kenwood , set in parkland on the edge of Hampstead Heath; the sprawling Jacobean Apethorpe Palace , once a favoured home of James I; the timeworn Victorian glamour of Brodsworth Hall; the glittering interiors of Marble Hill the London Georgian home of Henrietta Howard; the elegantly eerie shells of Witley Court, Appuldurcombe House and Kirby Hall; the handsome red brick façade of Rangers’ House in Greenwich Park; one of the biggest and bestpreserved medieval manor houses in England, Gainsborough Old Hall and the fully equipped kitchens, dairy, larder and laundries of Audley End’s Victorian Service Wing.