Breedon on the Hill - Church of St. Mary and St. Hardulph

Admission free. Disabled facilities: limited wheelchair access in church, access around the Nursery and tea rooms.

The Parish Church of St. Mary and St. Hardulph, is a notable landmark standing on the summit of a 180ft hill. A Monastery was founded on the hill in 676 by Frederic, a local Saxon nobleman. Tatwin, Abbott of Breedon, became Archbishop of Canterbury in 731 and the Monastery is believed to have been attacked by the Danes in 873.

Robert de Ferrers founded an Augustinian Priory herein the 12th century and when this was dissolved by Henry VIII, the Shirley family of Staunton Harold retained the tower and chancel of the Priory Church as the Parish Church with the north aisle for their own use. In addition to these Norman and 13th-century features, some Saxon work still survived.

The most notable remnants of the earlier monastery site are 30 fragments of 8th-century Saxon sculpture depicting foliage, birds, animals, geometrical patterns and small human figures. Most memorable of all is perhaps a beautiful figure of an angel with flowers at its feet, robes and a rounded face. These pieces were removed to the interior of the Church in 1937, to secure their preservation.