Gothic alterations were added in the 17th century by John Ivory Talbot. However it was William Henry Fox Talbot and his family who made the abbey a comfortable Victorian home, in particular the South Wing.

William Henry Fox Talbot made in 1835  the earliest surviving photographic camera negative. The image was from one of the windows of the South Wing.

The Fox Talbot museum shows the history of photography and its developments up to the present day. 

The abbey has at its centre an enclosed cloister garden, surrounded by an arcade of cloister walks on three sides. 

The gardens are in romantic woodland style. The rose garden, still existing today, was created by the mother of Henry Fox Talbot, Lady Elizabeth.

For visits and more detailed information, see website