ST9387 : Malmesbury Abbey - Great arch of former crossing
taken 4 years ago, near to Malmesbury, Wiltshire, England
Originally built as the church of the Benedictine Abbey, the Abbey Church of St Mary & St Aldhelm now serves as the parish church of Malmesbury.
Although still a very impressive building, it is just a fraction of its original size due to two calamities, the first natural, the second man-made.
In 1479 its great spire was felled during a thunderstorm and much of the eastern end of the church was destroyed with it. Then, about 60 years later the Dissolution of the Monasteries transferred most of the buildings to William Stumpe. No longer required for monastic purposes buildings such as the cloisters gradually fell into ruin, then in c.1662 the West Tower also fell, fortunately not to such devastating effect as the earlier catastrophe.
The abbey dates originally from as early as 637 when it was founded by an Irish hermit by the name of Mailduib, however no work from before the C12th survives.
The main abbey was built between 1160 and 1180 with considerable additions in the following three centuries.
See also separate snippet: South Porch, Malmesbury Abbey
And see the EH listing Link for far more detailed information about its history and architecture.
Malmesbury Abbey was founded in the 7th century, burnt in the early 9th century, rebuilt and burnt again in 1042. The surviving church largely dates from c1160-70, one of the few English monastic houses with a continual history from the 7th century to the Dissolution.
The main reason for the abbey's prosperity was the shrine of St.Aldhelm Link and it was one of the last religious houses to be suppressed in 1539.