Monastic foundations

In the Middle Ages, Abingdon Abbey was one of the richest monastic foundations in the country, and regularly welcomed royalty and the nobility. But in 1538 it became one of the first victims of Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. The ecclesiastical buildings, including the great abbey church of St Mary, were demolished and the masonry was used as building material. All that remained were the abbey gateway and its adjacent buildings and the domestic buildings.