Abbotsbury Abbey Remains (Dorset)

Introduction

Part of a monastic building, perhaps the abbot's lodging, of Benedictine Abbotsbury Abbey. St Catherine's Chapel is within half a mile.

There are many reminders of the wealthy Benedictine Abbey founded in the 11th century by King Canute's steward Orc and Orc's wife Thola. For some 400 years the thriving market town and its hinterland were dominated by the powerful black-robed monks until the Abbey was finally dissolved in 1539 under Henry VIII. Its fine buildings and extensive lands were sold to one Sir Giles Strangeways. This site is maintained by English Heritage.

History to the present day

Abbotsbury abbey was founded in the second quarter of the eleventh century, by a Dane called Orc. Orc was one of the several followers of Cnut who appear to have established themselves (or to have been established by the King) in the south-west, perhaps in Dorset in particular: he had received a grant of land at Portesham, near Abbotsbury, in 1024. Orc and his wife Tola are said to have given various estates to an older church of St Peter at Abbotsbury but in 1044 Orc founded the monastery there, introduced monks from Cerne abbey, and secured a charter of confirmation from King Edward the Confessor.

Orc was also responsible for organising members of the lay society around Abbotsbury into a formal guild, governed by rules which set the minster and its good works at the centre of their attention, and which also brought them the assurance of the fitting obsequies they so earnestly desired. It was presumably in this way that Orc sought to bind the local society together, and to ensure the continued prosperity of his church.

During the fourteenth century the Black Death killed many villagers and the Abbot, and the village was repeatedly attacked from the sea, reducing the power of the abbey. In 1538 Henry VIII dissolved the Monasteries and Abbotsbury Abbey was ruined as a condition of its sale so that its stone could be reused. The Great Barn, which at 272ft by 31ft is the largest thatched building in the world, and St Catherine's Chapel were spared, the latter used as a lookout across the sea. Both are Grade I listed buildings and Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The dissolution left the village impoverished.

Following the dissolution of Abbotsbury Abbey in 1539 its estates and muniments were acquired by Sir Giles Strangways of Melbury Sampford, Dorset. The commissioner who had dissolved Abbotsbury, bought the Abbey buildings, manor houses, water mills and Abbotsbury Swannery and much of the Abbey's land for £1,906. Much of the land still belongs to Strangways' descendant, the Earl of Ilchester.

Arrival information and how to find us

Open all year round at any reasonable time.

Located in Abbotsbury, off the B3157, near the churchyard. Parking is available for a small charge.