Lacock Abbey, Village and Fox Talbot Museum

About

The abbey grounds and car park at Lacock are reopening from 3 June. You will need to book your visit in advance. You will be turned away if you arrive without a booking. Find out more and book your slot. 

The abbey rooms, Courtyard tea-room, High Street shop, Fox Talbot Museum and Stables cafe remain closed. 

There’s something for everyone at Britain’s birthplace of photographer; the medieval abbey turned family home, the museum which tells the history of the photography, and the quintessential English village famous from TV and film.

The abbey was founded in the thirteenth century and dissolved by King Henry VIII in 1539. The convent became a country house as the Sharington and Talbot families made it their home, although the medieval cloisters exist today as testament to the house’s monastic past.

In 1835, William Henry Fox Talbot invented the world’s first photographic negative at the abbey. Now the Fox Talbot Museum at Lacock tells his story as well as hosting a variety of changing photography exhibitions.

The abbey’s wooded grounds are the perfect destination for taking a relaxed walk all year round; with carpets of snowdrops and crocuses in spring, fragrant rose and bright borders in summer, colourful tree tops in autumn, and crisp walks past frozen ponds in winter.

Throughout the year, a range of exhibitions, events, and family activities and trails means there’s always something new to do.

There’s also lots to discover in Lacock village; quaint cottages, the medieval tithe barn, old lock-up, village church and a variety of local shops.

Lacock is no stranger to the screen, with scenes from productions including ‘Pride and Prejudice’, ‘Cranford’, ‘Downton Abbey’, ‘Wolf Hall’, ‘The Hollow Crown’ and ‘Harry Potter’ being filmed in the abbey and village.