page_title: Quarr Abbey
section_title: Secular ownership
hierarchical_section_title: Quarr Abbey / History / Secular ownership
caption_attribution_description: QUARR ABBEY, W. RYDE.—The distance of the Abbey from Ryde is about three miles. It is a favourite walk from Spencer Road, viâ The Lovers' Walk, past Binstead Church, through Quarr Wood. This portion is occupied as a farm, but remains of the old Abbey are scattered about, portions still standing to testify its extent and importance. The walk may be continued through the archway on to Fishbourne. In the wood the daffodil is plentiful, primroses, lungwort, and the blue iris also abound in their season. The Wood has been very extensively quarried for the limestone, with which Winchester Cathedral and many Churches were built. There are pathways through the Wood down to the shore, forming very pleasing vistas through the overhanging trees.
context_page_description: Quarr Abbey is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as "Kwor". It belongs to the Catholic Order of St Benedict.
  The Grade I listed monastic buildings and church, completed in 1912, are considered some of the most important twentieth-century religious structures in the United Kingdom; Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the Abbey as "among the most daring and successful church buildings of the early 20th century in England". They were constructed from Belgian brick in a style combining French, Byzantine and Moorish architectural elements. In the vicinity are a few remains of the original twelfth-century abbey.
  A community of fewer than a dozen monks maintains the monastery's regular life and the attached farm. As of 2013, the community provides two-month internships for young men.
context_section_description: After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, the land was acquired by a Southampton merchant, George Mills who demolished most of the abbey.  Its stone was used for fortifications at the nearby towns of Cowes and Yarmouth.
  One of the three abbey bells is preserved in the belfry of the nearby Anglican parish church, originally built by the monks of Quarr Abbey for their lay dependants. Salvaged stone was also used to build Quarr Abbey House.
caption: Former Quarr Abbey House, c. 1910
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