Combe Abbey, (also known as Coombe Country Park), Coventry, England

Site is open to the public. Opening may be limited, please check Visitor Information for any restrictions.

Brief description of site

Combe Abbey lies within a 20th-century country park covering about 200 hectares. The site incorporates 17th, 18th and 19th-century park and garden features around 12th-century monastic and later buildings. The park was landscaped in 1771 by Lancelot Brown. Between 1861 and 1865 the gardens were re-designed by William Andrew Nesfield (the west side) and William Miller, the head gardener, who was responsible for the east gardens including the walled kitchen garden, now no longer extant. The house is now a hotel.

Brief history of site

The Cistercian monastery of Combe was founded by Richard de Camville in 1150. After the Dissolution in 1539, the site granted to Mary, Duchess of Somerset and Richmond. From 1581, John Harington converted the former monastic buildings into one of the most substantial houses in the county. In 1771-7 the sixth Lord Craven commissioned Lancelot Brown to landscape the 17th-century park surrounding Combe Abbey, and a series of landscape structures including lodges, kennels and a menagerie were built to designs either by Brown or Henry Holland.

Location information:

OS Landranger Map Sheet Number:	140	Grid Ref:	SP403 797
Latitude:	52.41382	Longitude:	-1.408931

Key information:

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