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Rewley Abbey is a Benedictine priory founded in the late twelfth century in Oxford, established as a daughter house of the Abbey of Caen in Normandy. The site lies on the banks of the Thames to the west of the medieval city, and its foundation reflected Oxford's growing importance as a centre of learning and piety in the High Middle Ages. The abbey was dissolved during the Reformation in the sixteenth century, and little remains visible today beyond fragmentary stone ruins and archaeological evidence of its former structures. Its location within Oxford's expanding suburbs has made the site archaeologically significant for understanding the relationship between religious institutions and urban development in medieval England.
Rewley Abbey is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1003650. View the official record →
Rewley Abbey is a Benedictine priory founded in the late twelfth century in Oxford, established as a daughter house of the Abbey of Caen in Normandy. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1003650.
Rewley Abbey is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic England (NHLE) — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in England. The official designation reference is 1003650.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Old Abingdon Road Culverts (2.9 km), Romano-British pottery site, prehistoric ring-ditches and enclosures, including medieval ridge and furrow, Lower Farm, Nuneham Courtenay (6.8 km), Settlement site E of Goose Acre Farm (8.3 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Rewley Abbey's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
Rewley Abbey stands on Kellaways Formation And Oxford Clay Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Oxfordian. The rock here is mudstone, siltstone and sandstone.