If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 633

 

 

 

 

 

 

Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England, ca 1902-1903

 

Malmesbury Abbey located in Wiltshire, England is the featured black & white photograph on this postcard with the publisher R. Wilkinson & Co., Trowbridge, identified at the lower right corner.  The back is divided but has the printed note:  “This space as well as the back [photo side] may be used for Inland communications.  Post Office Regulation.”  

 

 Since divided back postcards were allowed in England beginning in 1902, it can be guessed that this card dates from about late 1902 or 1903.  Later editions would no longer need to inform the sender that it was legal to write on the same side of the card as the name and address of the recipient.

 

Malmesbury Abbey is a religious house dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul.  It was first founded as a Benedictine monastery about 676 by the nephew of King Ine of Wessex, Aldhelm.  The town, also called Malmesbury, grew up around the Abbey which continued to expand during the time of Alfred the Great.   

 

The Abbey achieved a reputation for academic learning.  The Abbey shown on the card was completed by 1180.  It had a spire of 431 ft or 131 m.  King Henry VIII closed the abbey in 1539 as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  The building and the land the abbey owned equaled about 23,000 acres or 93 km and was home to 20 parishes.  It was sold to a rich merchant named, William Stumpe.  Stumpe returned the Abbey to the town for use as a church but also filled the buildings with looms for his cloth-weaving business.   

 

The west tower collapsed in 1550 and demolished three bays of the nave.  During the English Civil War, 1642-1646,  Malmesbury suffered extensive damage.  Less than half of the original building stands today.  In 1949 it was designated as a Grade I building.  Historic England added it to their Heritage at Risk Register in 2022.  Today part of it still functions as the parish church of Malmesbury.    

 

R. Wilkinson & Co. of Trowbridge was one of a couple of large businesses that produced postcards during the late 1800s and early 1900s when postcards were at the height of popularity. 

 

For more information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malmesbury_Abbey

https://wshc.org.uk/blog/item/sitting-pretty-with-picture-postcards.html