Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey is a former monastery of the Augustinian nuns from the early 13th century, in the village of Lacock. It was founded by Ela, the Duchess of Salisbury. The abbey is now a museum.
History
During the reign of King Henry III. Duchess of Salisbury Ela founded the abbey. Her husband was William de Longspee, 3rd Earl of Salisbury and an illegitimate son of the previous King Henry II of England.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the Abbey was commercially successful. The fertile farmland that Ela of Salisbury had also left the Abbey, secured a substantial income, in particular by wool.
When in the middle of the 16th century, the monasteries were dissolved, sold the estate to Henry VIII Sir William Sharrington, which applies the abbey church was rebuilt in 1539, it is a residential house and tear. On the other monastic buildings a few modifications were made , so the cloister is still below the living quarters. Over the centuries, however, further changes to the building have been made so the house got a tower in the Renaissance style and other state rooms.
In the 1750s the building John Ivory Talbot belonged and was rebuilt in neo-Gothic style. The architect was Sanderson Miller.
The house remained in the possession of Talbotfamilie and is often mentioned in connection with William Henry Fox Talbot. Talbot made in 1835 and received the first known photograph. It shows the bay window on the south side of the house. He led further experiments there and invented the negative / positive process in photography, from the developed modern photography.
Today, the building is a museum dedicated to the pioneering work of Talbot in the field of photography. The original photograph of the bay window there is also on display.
Lacock Abbey and the entire village of Lacock in 1944 handed over to the National Trust. This markets the abbey and the village together as " Lacock Abbey, Fox Talbot Museum & Village".
The Abbey in the film
Some interior shots of the film Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were filmed in Lacock, including the scene in the cloister, in the Harry freed Dobby the house elf. Also in the sixth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince some nocturnal ghost scenes were filmed at Hogwarts with the main actors in October 2007 in Lacock.
The Abbey in 2008 was also one of two main locations for filming historical novel The Other Boleyn Girl.
Other films were part of the TV series Robin Hood, Cromm Cruad, The Magic Arrow, The competition and the heir to the throne.