Visualizations of Furness Abbey: From Romantic Ruin to Computer Model

Abstract

The suppressed Cistercian abbey at Furness in Lakeland was left as a ruin by its owners. It was first recorded as such by Samuel and Nathaniel Buck in 1727 and the earliest known plan was published by Thomas West in 1774. More than 50 artists have recorded it since then, the majority responding to its picturesque qualities, in print, oil, watercolour and photography. Wordsworth's and Ruskin's opposition to the proximity of the railway made Furness a national cause, and accurate surveys, some made by architects, followed. Archaeological excavations were begun in 1896, and the site was placed in the hands of the Office of Works in 1923. The first guidebook did not appear until 1943, photogrammetry in the 1980s and computer modelling in 1988.