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Unnamed abbey ruins
Drawing: C.E. Mallows
Source: RIBA British Architectural Library Drawings & Archives Collection

Like headless or limbless sculptures, ruins are often more memorable than well-preserved buildings. Abbeys, ruined after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, are especially engaging. They demand the attention of the viewer who puzzles over what exactly was lost: do trees now stand on the site of a great pillar? Does ivy conceal lost ornament; and do branches echo former tracery patterns? They offer the opportunity to investigate structures once hidden within. 

This site clearly stirred the artist, C.E. Mallows (1864-1915), his imagination challenged by the precarious balance between the natural and man-made. Mallows, spent much of his early career sketching great abbeys and cathedrals, in 1889 winning the RIBA Pugin Prize, a travelling studentship, on the strength of his work.

This is but one of Mallows many studies. However, like many of the drawings in the collection, this is of an unidentified building. The question is whether this ruin can be located? Answers please!