FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about English Abbeys  Real but Mostly Ruined
Quiz about English Abbeys  Real but Mostly Ruined

English Abbeys - Real, but Mostly Ruined Quiz


Many English Benedictine and Cistercian abbeys are ruined, thanks to Henry VIII, but they are still worth visiting - if you find old ruined buildings romantic. I have indicated where each abbey is located and all the wrong answers are a long way off.

A multiple-choice quiz by davejacobs. Estimated time: 5 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. World Trivia
  6. »
  7. World Sites
  8. »
  9. Religious Buildings

Author
davejacobs
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
395,803
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
15
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
11 / 15
Plays
180
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
- -
Question 1 of 15
1. The ruins of this old abbey in a Wiltshire town are only a couple of miles from the far older and more famous ruins that are Stonehenge. One of the Arthurian legends has this as the convent that Guinevere retired to after the death of King Arthur. Hint


Question 2 of 15
2. Although the other buildings have gone, this old abbey chapel is still in regular use as the town's Parish Church. Ellis Peters' fictional Brother Cadfael was a monk here in the time of King Stephen, assisted by his friend Hugh Beringar, the deputy Sheriff of Shropshire. Hint


Question 3 of 15
3. Overlooking the Yorkshire town of the same name, this abbey was the site of a Synod in 664, while the town was the scene of an episode in a book by Bram Stoker, and hosts an annual Goth week. Hint


Question 4 of 15
4. This Cistercian Abbey in Devonshire was rebuilt by a small team of French monks between 1882 and 1937, and is now a working establishment and a tourist attraction famous for its tonic wine and honey. Hint


Question 5 of 15
5. This ruined abbey on the River Wye in Monmouthshire was made famous in a poem by William Wordsworth. Hint


Question 6 of 15
6. Site of the crowning of Edgar (claimed by some to be the first King of all England), and rebuilt by the Normans, this Abbey church still flourishes in a Somerset spa town. Hint


Question 7 of 15
7. This abbey was once the second wealthiest in England, and was built by the monks of Savigny, France on the shores of Morecombe Bay near Barrow where nuclear submarines are now built. Hint


Question 8 of 15
8. Lord Louis Mountbatten was buried in this, his home abbey church, after his assassination by the IRA in Ireland. His ancestral home Broadlands adjoins the Hampshire town where this abbey was built in the 12th Century. Hint


Question 9 of 15
9. This abbey in Suffolk was founded by King Canute to honour the saint whose name is given to the town and abbey. Hint


Question 10 of 15
10. This Berkshire town on the Thames has a Benedictine abbey built in 1121. It was converted to a palace by Henry VIII, which was destroyed in the Civil War. Hint


Question 11 of 15
11. This ancient London abbey is where all English monarchs have been crowned since William the Conqueror in 1066. Hint


Question 12 of 15
12. William the Conqueror vowed that he would build this abbey on the site of the Battle of Hastings, should he beat King Harold. Which he did, of course. Hint


Question 13 of 15
13. This ruined abbey is on the shores of Southampton Water, near the City of Southampton. Hint


Question 14 of 15
14. This Hampshire abbey was founded by an austere group of canons in 1222, in the village where the British Office of National Statistics has its offices. Hint


Question 15 of 15
15. Said to be the most beautiful ruins in England, this abbey with a French name lies within the North York Moors National Park. Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The ruins of this old abbey in a Wiltshire town are only a couple of miles from the far older and more famous ruins that are Stonehenge. One of the Arthurian legends has this as the convent that Guinevere retired to after the death of King Arthur.

Answer: Amesbury

There was originally a monastery on the site, but it was dissolved by Henry II in 1177 and replaced by a priory for women.
2. Although the other buildings have gone, this old abbey chapel is still in regular use as the town's Parish Church. Ellis Peters' fictional Brother Cadfael was a monk here in the time of King Stephen, assisted by his friend Hugh Beringar, the deputy Sheriff of Shropshire.

Answer: Shrewsbury

As with several other English Abbeys, all that remains of Shrewsbury Abbey after the Dissolution of the Monasteries around 1540, is the church, dedicated to St Peter and St Paul. The monastery was founded in 1083, and prospered due to its situation on the river Severn.

It owes much of its current popularity to a series of books by Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) featuring a monk who is a master detective during the troubled reign of King Stephen. The stories were brought to a larger audience in a television series, with Brother Cadfael (pronounced Cadvile, it's a Welsh name) played by Derek Jacobi.
3. Overlooking the Yorkshire town of the same name, this abbey was the site of a Synod in 664, while the town was the scene of an episode in a book by Bram Stoker, and hosts an annual Goth week.

Answer: Whitby

The ruins of Whitby Abbey stand in an imposing position on a hill overlooking the town of Whitby in Yorkshire. It was founded as a monastery by St Hilda in 656, and in the 11th Century it became a Benedictine Abbey. It was at the Synod of Whitby in 664 that decisions were made by King Oswy of Northumbria that led to the Romanisation of the English church.
It was at Whitby that Bram Stoker had Dracula brought in a box of earth, in the ship Demeter.
4. This Cistercian Abbey in Devonshire was rebuilt by a small team of French monks between 1882 and 1937, and is now a working establishment and a tourist attraction famous for its tonic wine and honey.

Answer: Buckfast

Buckfast Abbey was founded near the town of Buckfastleigh in Devon as a Benedictine monastery. In the 12th Century it changed to the more austere monastic form as a Cistercian abbey. It was destroyed after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII.

In 1882 a small group of monks from France started to rebuild a new abbey on the site of the old, and it was completed in 1937. The impressive church has 14 altars. Today it is still a flourishing organisation and a popular tourist attraction, famous for its production of Buckfast Tonic Wine, honey and other apicultural products.
5. This ruined abbey on the River Wye in Monmouthshire was made famous in a poem by William Wordsworth.

Answer: Tintern

Tintern was founded as a Cistercian abbey in 1131 on the Welsh side of the river Wye which forms the boundary with England here. It was inevitably abandoned during the Dissolution, and left to become ruins whose exceptional beauty have been celebrated in paintings and poetry.
6. Site of the crowning of Edgar (claimed by some to be the first King of all England), and rebuilt by the Normans, this Abbey church still flourishes in a Somerset spa town.

Answer: Bath

Bath Abbey church is one of the many attractions of the old town of Bath, another famous one of course being the Roman baths built over the natural springs here. The dedication is to St Peter and St Paul.
7. This abbey was once the second wealthiest in England, and was built by the monks of Savigny, France on the shores of Morecombe Bay near Barrow where nuclear submarines are now built.

Answer: Furness

The ruins of this famous abbey, built of red sandstone, are beautifully situated in a wooded valley to the north of the city of Barrow-in-Furness. Originally a Benedictine abbey, it changed to Cistercian in 1148.
8. Lord Louis Mountbatten was buried in this, his home abbey church, after his assassination by the IRA in Ireland. His ancestral home Broadlands adjoins the Hampshire town where this abbey was built in the 12th Century.

Answer: Romsey

The abbey church is still a place of worship in the town of Romsey; it was built as a replacement for a wooden church in the 12th Century. Nearby King John's hunting lodge, built in 1206, is still in good condition and is used as a museum.
9. This abbey in Suffolk was founded by King Canute to honour the saint whose name is given to the town and abbey.

Answer: Bury St Edmunds

Edmund was an East Anglian king martyred by the Danes in 869 A.D. and who was buried in the town which was given his name in the 11th Century. King Canute founded a Benedictine monastery here to serve the shrine in about 1020. The 14th Century abbey gate and the 12th Century Norman bell-tower are all of the abbey buildings that remain intact.
10. This Berkshire town on the Thames has a Benedictine abbey built in 1121. It was converted to a palace by Henry VIII, which was destroyed in the Civil War.

Answer: Reading

Among the events in Reading Abbey church were the marriage of John of Gaunt in 1359, and the acknowledgement of his hitherto secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville by King Edward IV in 1464.
The site of the old abbey is now occupied by public gardens.
11. This ancient London abbey is where all English monarchs have been crowned since William the Conqueror in 1066.

Answer: Westminster

The building commonly known as Westminster Abbey is more properly called "The Collegiate Church of St Peter in Westminster" . It was founded by King Edward the Confessor in 1050, and consecrated, although not completed, in 1065; just in time for the invading Norman King William to be crowned there on Christmas Day 1066.
As it is said to be the most widely celebrated church in the Commonwealth, there is nothing more to be added here!
12. William the Conqueror vowed that he would build this abbey on the site of the Battle of Hastings, should he beat King Harold. Which he did, of course.

Answer: Battle

The small town of Battle was named after the place where the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066, and it is actually six miles from Hastings. William made good his promise, and the abbey church was consecrated in 1094, the altar said to mark the spot where King Harold fell.

The Great Gateway still survives but the church was destroyed and the abbey buildings converted into a mansion, which is now a co-educational school.
13. This ruined abbey is on the shores of Southampton Water, near the City of Southampton.

Answer: Netley

A Cistercian abbey was founded in the village of Netley in 1237 by Henry III.
The ruins, although owned by English Heritage, are seldom visited. When we went there many years ago, my little granddaughter wanted to see "where the monkeys lived" due to a slight misunderstanding of what we had told her about the place.
14. This Hampshire abbey was founded by an austere group of canons in 1222, in the village where the British Office of National Statistics has its offices.

Answer: Titchfield

The founders of Titchfield Abbey were canons rather than monks, and were of the order of "Premonstratensians", because they came originally from Premontre in France. They not only led a communal life of prayer and work in the abbey, but also went further afield, acting as parish priests.

After the Dissolution the buildings were converted into a stately mansion by the Wriothesley family, one of who was a patron of Shakespeare.
15. Said to be the most beautiful ruins in England, this abbey with a French name lies within the North York Moors National Park.

Answer: Rievaulx

Rievaulx was founded as a Cistercian Abbey in 1131, and the ruins consist mainly of the cruciform church, although part of the refectory building still exists. The name may in fact not be French, but a corruption of Rye Valley named for the river on which the village stands.

Beaulieu is a real English Abbey with a real French name although locally pronounced Byoo-lee (rhymes with To Be) but it is in Hampshire, not Yorkshire.
Source: Author davejacobs

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
3/28/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us