Quarr Abbey

Quarr Abbey (French: Abbaye Notre-Dame de Quarr) is a monastery between the villages of Binstead and Fishbourne on the Isle of Wight in southern England. The name is pronounced as “Kwor” (rhyming with “for”). It belongs to the Catholic Order of St Benedict.

The Grade I listed monastic buildings and church, completed in 1912, are considered some of the most important twentieth-century religious structures in the United Kingdom; Sir Nikolaus Pevsner described the Abbey as “among the most daring and successful church buildings of the early 20th century in England”. They were constructed from Belgian brick in a style combining French, Byzantine and Moorish architectural elements. In the vicinity are a few remains of the original twelfth-century abbey.

A community of fewer than a dozen monks maintains the monastery’s regular life and the attached farm. As of 2013, the community provides two-month internships for young men.