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Shaftesbury Abbey is a Benedictine nunnery founded in the late tenth century by King Alfred the Great, making it one of the most significant religious houses for women in medieval England. The abbey occupied a prominent position on the hilltop settlement of Shaftesbury in Dorset and accumulated considerable lands and wealth throughout the Middle Ages, wielding substantial political and economic influence. The surviving remains include fragmentary stone structures and earthworks that reflect the abbey's substantial medieval buildings, though much of the site was destroyed following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century. The abbey church housed the shrine of Saint Edward the Martyr, whose cult made Shaftesbury a destination of pilgrimage and contributed significantly to the house's prestige and revenue throughout the medieval period.
Shaftesbury Abbey is a scheduled monument protected by Historic England under reference 1002672. View the official record →
Shaftesbury Abbey is a Benedictine nunnery founded in the late tenth century by King Alfred the Great, making it one of the most significant religious houses for women in medieval England. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic England (NHLE) under reference 1002672.
Shaftesbury 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 1002672.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Medieval strip lynchets 450m south of Springhead Farm (6.4 km), Bowl barrow known as Folly Barrow (7.6 km), Linear boundary 870m south west of Spring Farm (8.2 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 15 strands of Shaftesbury 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.
Shaftesbury Abbey stands on Gault Formation And Upper Greensand Formation (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Cenomanian. The rock here is mudstone, sandstone and limestone.