Where is Carfax Abbey?

Just curious about where in England "Dracula" takes place. Wikipedia says Purfleet, but one cannot trust them entirely. Unfortunately I don't have a copy of the book to check. I read it waaay back in high school.

I believe it takes place in Whitby, which is located in Yorkshire.

Dracula lands in Whitby, a port town, but the house he purchases through Jonathan Harker is in Purfleet, Essex, close to London; it is within the modern-day M25 but outside modern-day Greater London.

As I recall in the books it's not an abbey, and is just named Carfax. Movie adaptations have often made it Carfax Abbey, placed it near Whitby and confused it with the real-life Whitby Abbey.

Carfax Abbey is based on Abbey House, a mansion built in the grounds of the abbey supposedly on the site of the Abbot's house, and recycling building materials from the dissolved Abbey.

Why the change to Abbey? "Abbey" means monastery, right? Wouldn't that put him at a higher risk for crucifix exposure? And is buying an abbey... done? Wouldn't it be Church property?

When Henry VIII established the Anglican church, he claimed the land and buildings of a lot of Catholic abbeys for the state. He destroyed many of the abbeys - there are abbey ruins all over England, including the aforementioned Whitby - but I think some were given to prominent supporters and turned into stately homes. And when an abbey's been operating as a mansion for 500 years, it's not much more likely to have crucifixes than anywhere else would be.

So purchasing and living in a place that was once an abbey and still bears that name isn't implausible.

edited 29th Apr '17 6:26:21 PM by Galadriel

As further fictional examples of this, see also Northanger Abbey and of course Downton Abbey. Henry VIII (and by extension Thomas Cromwell) "redistributed" a lot of land and property.

The same forces that led to Henry VIII trashing the English abbeys were at work in Scotland too, btw. We've tonnes of lovely buildings up here that were ruined by John Knox's fanboys.