Downside: the UK Church’s biggest single heritage challenge
This spring the monks of Downside Abbey bid farewell to the site in Somerset they have occupied for more than two centuries. Behind them they leave the abbey church and other historic buildings whose future poses the biggest single heritage challenge faced by the Church in the UK
To some they are defeated old men running away from their problems. To others, they are a spirited bunch making a bold, possibly prophetic move. The Downside monks’ decision to begin a new life in Devon is dividing opinion.
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