Nashdom

The Anglican Benedictine community of Caldey Abbey, Pembrokeshire, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1913, with the exception of a small Anglican remnant, which moved into Abbey House at Pershore Abbey, Worcestershire. The new community was formally established in May 1914, though it had only one professed monk and two oblates. In 1915 the monk, Anselm Mardon, converted to Rome and went back to Caldey. Denys Prideaux, one of the oblates, was appointed warden, and in 1922 became the first abbot. The community soon found itself in need of more space. The Dolgoroukis' agent, Ewart, was a friend of the community, and alerted it to Nashdom's availability. The community bought Nashdom in May 1924…

Lutyens built the house in Neo-Georgian style, using whitewashed brick. It is one of his earliest completely neoclassical buildings. To accommodate the steeply sloping site, he built a basement level under the southwest half of the house. The northwest, entrance front had an urban appearance, built tight against the road. Massive and austerely neoclassical, it had at its centre a Doric colonnade giving into the entrance porch, directly beyond which was, not the main entrance door, but access via a wrought iron gate into a semicircular courtyard. The entrance hall contained two staircases. The main one, straight ahead from the door and 12 ft wide, led up to the Big Room, the main room for…