Boxgrove Ruins is a place that has graced the backdrop of many a photoshoot.
But before Boxgrove Ruins became the it place to have your engagement photos taken, it was a place steeped in history earning it its Grade 1 listing.
England has been gloriously warm lately, so I decided that I’d get out the house with no aim except to enjoy the sunshine and do a little local exploring. I originally ended up at a completely different Boxgrove church because I’m geographically-challenged when it comes to country lanes and Google maps CLEARLY didn’t know the difference either. But after a quick countryside detour I found our way to the actual Boxgrove (FYI it’s near Halnaker).
Boxgrove Ruins is part of Boxgrove Priory, a place which started as a cell of the abbey at Lessay. Boxgrove Priory was first founded in the 11th century by the Lord of Halnaker, Robert De La Haye, and at the time it had a community of only three monks. The number of monks gradually increased but the priory remained a part of the french abbey, and until its dissolution in 1536 was a monastic institution with a double church.
But the ruins you see here today are what’s left of the Lodging house.
The lodging house use to have a lot more *ahem* walls, but the height and north and south gables that you see in these pictures, are originals, and it’s easy to see why Boxgrove Ruins are a photographer’s playground!
