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Crowland Abbey

Crowland Abbey

History of Crowland Abbey

Listed Building

The monument includes the remains of Crowland Abbey, a monastery first founded in the early eighth century on the site of the hermitage of the Anglo-Saxon saint, Guthlac. It was destroyed by the Danes in 870 and re-founded as a Benedictine abbey in the mid-tenth century. From the 10th to the 15th centuries the monastic buildings were repeatedly extended and rebuilt. The abbey was finally dissolved in 1539 and all the monastic buildings demolished except the nave and aisles of the abbey church which were taken into use as the parish church. During the Civil War the church served as a Royalist stronghold and was surrounded by earthen defences; in the 18th century the nave and south aisle became ruined and parish use was restricted to the north aisle. The monument therefore includes the ruins of part of the abbey church, the buried remains of the Anglo-Saxon hermitage and monastery and medieval monastic buildings, and the earthworks of the Civil War defences. The standing remains of Crowland Abbey are Listed Grade I.

For more information see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowland_Abbey

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