Missenden Abbey

Missenden Abbey stands in the village of Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, on the site of a former Augustinian monastery founded in 1133. The original abbey church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was demolished after the Dissolution in 1538, but its stonework suggests rich Romanesque decoration. A 15th-century bell weighing over 2.5 tons once hung in the church, the largest in the county. The abbey was the first of its kind in Buckinghamshire and the second Arrouasian house in England, linked to a French mother house. Excavations in 1983 showed the church was built in several phases, beginning in the mid-12th century. The abbey’s history reflects wider changes in English monastic life. Visiting bishops in the 15th and 16th centuries criticised discipline, debt and decay, with one abbot suspended for misrule. By 1538 the abbey was surrendered and its church pulled down, ending centuries of worship. The last abbot, John Otwell, later married and died in 1552. The present house, built in 1574 on the cloister site, was remodelled in Regency Gothic style early in the 19th century. Today the rebuilt abbey serves as a conference centre and wedding venue owned by Buckinghamshire New University. Its Regency Gothic features include castellated parapets, corner turrets and arrow slits. Some monastic fabric survives within the walls, though little is visible. The abbey’s grounds lie close to the original church site, 300 yards to the east. Since 2016 it has hosted the county’s first same-sex marriages, continuing a long tradition of public use.