Shaftesbury Abbey

Dorset


These hilltop ruins mark the site of what was England's largest and richest nunnery. It was founded in 888 by King Alfred the Great, and his daughter, Aethelgifu, was its first abbess. St Edward is thought to have been buried here, and King Knut died at the abbey in 1035. Most of the buildings were dismantled by Henry VIII, but you can wander the foundations and search out statuary and illuminated manuscripts in the museum.


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