St Mary Magdalene, Croome D'Abitot

The original church at Croome was demolished by the 6th Earl of Coventry when he decided to replace his adjacent Jacobean house in the 1750s. His new house and park were designed and laid out by Capability Brown as was the church, set on a low hill nearby in Croome Park as an ‘eye catcher’. The interiors of both house and church are attributed to Robert Adam and were completed in 1763. The new church is a perfect fantasy of the period, with elegant Gothick windows and plasterwork, pulpit, communion rails, commandments and creed boards. But the chancel is really a mausoleum to the Coventry family. The very splendid monuments to earlier members of the family were brought from the old church.