Evesham Abbey

Simon de Montfort (1208–1265) is buried near the high altar of the ruined abbey, the spot marked by an altar-like memorial monument dedicated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1965.

The date of Pope Constantine’s charter may decide the point as to the consecration of his Abbey, but there is reason to suppose that Egwin began to build as early as the year 702".

"[7] Ecgwine allegedly returned from Rome bearing this charter, which was apparently read out by Archbishop Berhtwald at a council of "the whole of England" held at Alcester,[8] although that meeting was probably fictitious.

"[11] The alleged charter of Ecgwine (purportedly written in 714) records that on the feast of All Saints "Bishop Wilfrid and I consecrated the church which I had built to God, the Blessed Mary, and to all Christ’s elect".

[24] As of 2022[update], the site in general and in particular the almonry and Abbot Reginald's wall, are on Historic England's Heritage at Risk register owing to their vulnerable condition.

Prints of picturesque ruins accompanied the growth of domestic tourism in Britain during the second half of the 18th century, among which can be found striking images of the remains of the abbey walls and bell tower at Evesham.

These, accompanied by scenic and historical descriptions, were collected, for example, in such works as Francis Grose's Antiquities of England and Wales (1786)[42] and, more particularly, Samuel Ireland's Picturesque Views on the Upper or Warwickshire Avon (1795).

[43] Among the visiting artists who came to paint them was J. M. W. Turner, who in 1793 made pen and wash studies of the abbey gateway[44] and of the Church of St Laurence seen through the bell tower's arch.

A view over the river to the abbey's tower, a 19th century oil painting
J. M. W. Turner’s watercolour of the old abbey gateway, 1793