Reimaging Glastonbury Abbey and other recreation videos

Just to pop on the ol’ website that I have here, that I put together this in the 3D animation program Blender recently: a rendered recreation of the great church of Glastonbury Abbey, England’s wealthiest monastery (by gross income at least by 1535) and one of the very last to be suppressed by the Crown, in quite bloody fashion.

This YouTube upload is followed by a deep-dive via the business end of the program to explore the wider history of the building and a size comparison some of the surviving cathedral-scale buildings I stole from to create it. Actually already had enough feedback and interest that there will be soon be a remastered version of the render, but until then…

This followed a test I made of the principal Cluniac house in England: Lewes Priory, the site of which was unfortunately ploughed through by the Brighton, Lewes and Hastings Railway company in 1845, although with the buildings just as untextured, colour-coded models. Certainly could do with revisiting on the timing of the animation but the environs are a bit limiting as it’s right on the edge of the 3D coverage. Also apses are hard work, as all Englishmen seem to agree. (no sound)

These build on other church building recreations I’ve done using other people’s models last couple of years, of Reading Abbey and its absolutely underrated concentrated history of both having a king buried in and the prison that held Oscar Wilde built over part of it. (no sound)

And also Old St Paul’s Cathedral, London (no sound) which I was quite proud of how it looks but doesn’t really have a narrative or whatever. It’s just cool.

I did a re-render of this for upright phone viewing, which considering how much London had changed in a few years was more trouble than it was worth, frankly.

But Coming Soon! Oseney Abbey! The short-lived cathedral of Oxford! Has taken two months of work and uses some slightly more advanced techniques that my Glastonbury one. But the render is basically done, just needs editing together and the behind-the-scenes videos recording. And yes, there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes about why it’s the frankly weird shape it is. Almost too much, really.