Winchcombe Abbey

About

Winchcombe Abbey is a now-vanished Benedictine abbey in Winchcombe, Gloucestershire; this abbey was once in the heart of Mercia, an Anglo Saxon kingdom at the time of the Heptarchy in England. The Abbey was founded c. 798 for three hundred Benedictine monks, by King Offa of Mercia or King Coenwulf of Mercia.

In its time, it was the burial place of two members of the Mercian ruling class, the aforementioned Coenwulf and his son Cynehelm, later venerated as Saint Kenelm. According to more recent research, the original foundation by Offa in 787 was for a community of nuns, to which Coenwulf added a community of men in 811 to create a double monastery. The nunnery ceased to exist sometime after 897.

The abbey was refounded in 970 after the disruptions of the Danish invasions, and the first abbot of the new establishment was Germanus of Winchester. The abbey itself was in the grounds to the east end of the parish church of St Kenelm. Many pilgrims visited St Kenelm's tomb in the Early Middle Ages, and the Abbey thus became very rich.

At its heyday, Winchcombe Abbey alone owned 25,300 acres (102 km2) in 13 parishes. Indeed, Snowshill Manor was owned by Winchcombe Abbey from 821 until the...