Visit to Romsey Abbey

Wednesday 9 September 2026
(1.15pm for 1.30pm start (the visit will finish at approx. 3.30pm))
Romsey Abbey, Church Lane, Romsey, Hampshire, SO51 8EP
Lecturer/Guide: Richard Plant

Romsey Abbey, a house for nuns, was one of the most prestigious of the late Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods. The remaining church is among the most elaborate of the Romanesque period, with a number of features that can not be paralleled in England, or indeed anywhere else. The plan is unusual for its time, having a rectangular ambulatory, the elevation varies throughout the building with strange variations in the middle storey. The overall effect is rich and elegant. Since the building was slow in construction, it also shows how the designer effected the transition from late Romanesque to early Gothic.

Romsey also houses some notable late Anglo-Saxon sculpture: two crucifixion scenes, one life-sized now outside the church (the subject of Richard’s lecture at the 2025 AGM), the other a small and vigorous panel. The sculpture of the Norman building varies from elegant foliage to bizarre and crude figurative scenes.

After the tour, you are invited to join Richard for tea, coffee etc and a chat – more details nearer the 9th September.

We will be using Vox receivers.

Lecturer/Guide

Dr Richard Plant is an architectural historian and lecturer specialising primarily in the Middle Ages with a strong interest in the modern. He studied English Literature at Cambridge before going on to do his MA and then PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He has taught at a number of institutions, and was Deputy Academic Director at Christie’s Education. He has published on English and German architecture and has contributed to the British Archaeological Association’s International Romanesque conferences and co-edited the proceedings. He is currently Secretary of the BAA.

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