Amesbury Abbey

Amesbury Abbey was a Benedictine nunnery founded in about 979 by Queen Ælfthryth on ground that may already have held an earlier monastery. It stood in Wiltshire, on land that once belonged to Saxon estates recorded in the Domesday Book. The abbey was dissolved in 1177 by Henry II, who replaced it with a priory of the Order of Fontevraud. Today the name refers to a Grade I listed country house built in the 1830s, now a nursing home. The site carries the memory of Queen Ælfthryth’s foundation and the later Fontevraud reform. In 1177 Henry II summoned nuns from Fontevraud Abbey, led by a former subprioress, to reorganise the community. Two queens chose Amesbury for their resting place: Eleanor of Brittany, who died in 1241, and Eleanor of Provence, who died in 1291. The priory also counted Isabel of Lancaster, sister of the Duke of Lancaster, as its prioress in the 14th century. Visitors find a quiet country house set in landscaped grounds near the parish church. The church still carries the dedication to St Melor, whose relics were once claimed by the abbey. The Grade I building from the 1830s stands on the old abbey precinct, offering a view of the surrounding Wiltshire countryside.