Rufford Abbey Country Park (Rufford)

 park  Add category

 Upload a photo

Park and Abbey Ruins open 364 days a year (closed Christmas Day).
Once an isolated community of silent monks,later a grand country house and aristocratic estate,today a 150 acre county park.
Rufford Abbey was founded by Cistercian monks in 1147.
After the closure of the Abbey in 1536,the monastery and its land was sold to George Talbot,the 6th Earl of Shrewsbury,who transformed it into a country house.
In 1626 the estate passed into the Saviles who owned Rufford for the next 300 years.
After the death of Lord Savile the estate was sold.
During World War 2 in the 1940's it became a prisoner of war camp for Italians.
By 1958 the Abbey was shut up and abandoned.
Nottinghamshire County Council bought the house and part of its former grounds.Sadly,the Abbey buildings had become unstable and all but the Jacobian block had to be demolished.

www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-leisure/country-park...