Monastery · England · Partial ruin

Malmesbury Abbey

Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire is a former Benedictine monastery whose Norman-era church was substantially completed by 1180. The surviving abbey church served continuously from the medieval period through the Dissolution and today functions as the parish church of Malmesbury. Much of the original medieval fabric is lost, but the remaining building preserves major architectural elements and an extensive churchyard with medieval tombs.

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Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

First raised

AD 601

Its prime

1180

Today

Partial ruin

As it stood in 1180

What Malmesbury Abbey looked like in its prime.

A long cruciform stone abbey of warm, weathered oolitic limestone with a broad nave, aisles and high clerestory windows; steep pitched roofs of lead or stone, a deep Romanesque south porch with a round-headed carved archivolt, and a massive central tower surmounted by a very tall spire. Exterior buttresses and slender pinnacles punctuate the roofline; a grassed churchyard dotted with medieval chest tombs and a paved path leads to the porch.

Step inside

8 places to explore in 1180.

The record describes 8 distinct spots at Malmesbury Abbey, including 4 interiors: parvise (room over the porch), nave looking east, north aisle and tomb and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.

Approach from churchyard pathSouth porch exterior (arched portal)Parvise (room over the porch)Nave looking eastNorth aisle and tombBase of the central tower and spireEast end / choirGrassed churchyard with chest tombs

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