Old Warden

Old Warden is a village located along the Greensand Ridge Walk and Greensand Cycle Way. It is also home to some interesting visitor attractions.

The picturesque village of Old Warden boasts several interesting features, including pretty thatched cottages, Warden Abbey, the Church of St. Leonard and the historic earthworks of Quint’s Hill, which probably date from the Iron Age. Sitting on the Shuttleworth Estate, Old Warden is home to a well-loved visitor attraction, The Shuttleworth Collection and Swiss Garden. Shuttleworth is a hive of activity, with one of the world’s most prestigious aeronautical and automotive collections and various events attracting visitors from far and wide.

The village of Old Warden was once run by Warden Abbey. The Abbey, founded in 1135, was the daughter Abbey to the older Cistercian Abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire. During the reign of Henry VIII, the Abbey was dissolved and transferred into the ownership of the Gostwick family. Robert Gostwick demolished the buildings and built a red brick mansion just east of the Abbey. Only remnants of the buildings stand in the landscape today, but the remaining structure suggests the red brick mansion may have included some of the old Abbey. A full restoration of the building was carried out by the Landmark Trust and it is now available as a holiday home
for hire on a short-term basis.

With so much to explore, and the attractive Hare and Hounds pub offering food and drink, Old Warden is the perfect stop off along the Greensand Ridge Walk or Cycleway, or a great base for discovering the wider Greensand Country.