Evening over St Michael's Abbey

There was supposed to have been a camera club meeting tonight, but one-by-one people dropped out due to pressure of work and family commitments. Eventually only myself and Paul remained so I cancelled. Pity really as a number of us had submitted some interesting photos on the theme of Architecture.

Instead I took advantage of the early evening light and cloud formation over St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough, and took some photos on the way home.

The abbey was built by the Empress Eugénie after the loss of her husband Napoleon III in 1873 and the death in 1879 of her 23 year old son in the Zulu War. She built it as a monastery and the Imperial Mausoleum. She invited French Benedictines here in 1895, thus beginning the daily round of work, prayer and study. The last French monk, Dom Zerr, died in 1956, but there is still a small and vibrant community of monks here today.