Medmenham Abbey

Medmenham Abbey stands in a quiet village in Buckinghamshire beside the River Thames. The Cistercian monastery was founded in 1201 by Hugh de Bolebec as a daughter house of Woburn Abbey. It belonged to the Clairvaux family line and was dissolved twice before finally closing in 1536. By then only the abbot and one monk remained. After the Dissolution the site passed to the Moore family and later to the Duffield family. The abbey never grew large or famous. Records show its annual income was just twenty pounds. Most of the buildings were taken down soon after closure, leaving almost no ruins. Only part of a 13th-century column survives today. The exact layout of church and cloister is unknown, though the cloister is thought to have lain north of the church. Visitors now find a private house from the 19th century standing on the old site. The house occupies ground once covered by the abbey’s domestic buildings. A short walk leads to the Thames, where the river bends close to the former abbey grounds. The peaceful riverside path offers views across the water to the opposite bank.