Description:A postcard view of Gap Pool at the Ranton Abbey Estate, formerly occasionally Ronton as with the caption on this postcard. The pool and the nearby remains of Ranton Abbey are situated one mile to the west of Ranton, in a private wooded park. The fifteenth century abbey church tower still survives.
The Abbey was an Augustinian house, founded in the twelfth century by Robert and Celestia Noel of Ellenhall. The large house is known as Abbey House was built around 1820. The building was damaged by fire during the Second World War whilst occupied by Dutch soldiers.
In the early nineteenth century the estate was purchased by the first Earl of Lichfield. The estate was sold to the Wedgwood porcelain company in the 1950s but bought back by Patrick Lichfield, the 5th Earl of Lichfield in 1987 with a view to restoring the house or building a replacement. Realisation of these plans was delayed for many years and permission was finally granted in December 2005, only a month after Patrick Lichfield died. The estate was sold in 2008, and again in July 2011.