Shaftesbury Abbey Museum and Garden Museums

Shaftesbury Abbey Museum and Garden is set on the site of Saxons England's foremost Benedictine nunnery founded by King Alfred in 888AD

This Abbey was to act as the catalyst for the prosperity of the town and surrounding area for over 650 years. The excavated foundations of this once important and influential Abbey lie in a peaceful walled garden - a lasting reminder of the Abbey's eventful past.

Founded in 888 AD by King Alfred the Great, Shaftesbury Abbey, a Benedictine community for women, was to act as the catalyst for the prosperity of the town and surrounding area over 650 years. The excavated foundations of this once important and influential Abbey lie in a peaceful walled garden - a lasting reminder of the Abbey's eventful past.

Today the story of the Abbey and its inhabitants has been vividly brought to life in a new, state-of-the-art museum.

Decorated in dramatic medieval colours chosen to reflect the interior of the original Abbey church.

The museum houses as fascinating collection of carved stonework including samples of Saxon carving, medieval floor tiles and other excavated objects. Illustrations from ancient manuscripts help to tell the story of this ancient monument.

Remarkable examples of polychrome statuary depicting the Mass of St Gregory, and dating from the 15th centaury were donated to the Abbey Trust by the Dorset County Museum.

It is presumed that it the statuary was destroyed in 1539, by Henry VIII's commissioner for the distraction of Catholic shrines. A total of 173 fragments were hidden behind a wall in St Peter's Church, High Street, Shaftesbury, and found during restoration work in 1975.

The Abbey Trust commissioned a professional conservator of sculpture to restore this group as far as possible which is what can be seen today.