Place Name
Named after the former Twyford Abbey, which was not in fact a religious house, but the name of a Gothic manor house built in 1808 by William Atkinson. It was built on the site of the West Twyford manor, with a small private chapel, which had stood there since at least 1593, holding the distinction of being the only inhabited property in the area. In 1806 it was sold to Thomas Willan, a stagecoach owner, who employed William Atkinson to enlarge the property, building an extension in a Gothic style, filling in the moat and making alterations to the church. In 1902 it was bought by the Alexian Brothers, a Roman Catholic order who set up a nursing home there which closed in 1988. Nearly 30 years later architects Walters & Cohen were given the go-ahead to convert Twyford Abbey, a Grade II-listed property into a 1,150-capacity secondary school.
