The Abbey of St Peter was a Benedictine Monastery in the village of Abbotsbury in Dorset, England. The abbey was founded in the 11th century by King Canute's steward Orc and his wife Thola. Canute's successor, Edward the Confessor, was impressed with the abbey and granted Orc the rights to the shore of The Fleet and any shipwrecks in the area. Orc and Thola died childless and left the monastery to the church, a gift confirmed by William I after the Norman Conquest. The abbey prospered and became the centre of power in the area, controlling eight manor houses and villages.

During the 14th century the Black Death killed many villagers and the Abbot, and the village was repeatedly attacked from the sea, reducing the power of the abbey. In 1538 Henry VIII dissolved the Monasteries and Abbotsbury Abbey was ruined as a condition of its sale so that its stone could be reused. The Great Barn, which at 272ft by 31ft is the largest thatched building in the world, and St Catherine's Chapel were spared, the latter used as a lookout across the sea. Both are Grade I listed buildings and Scheduled Ancient Monuments. The dissolution left the village impoverished.

Sir Giles Strangways, the commissioner who had dissolved Abbotsbury, bought the Abbey buildings, manor houses, water mills and Abbotsbury Swannery and much of the Abbey's land for £1,906, 10s. Much of the land still belongs to Strangways' descendant, the Earl of Ilchester.

References

• Pitt-Rivers, Michael, 1968. Dorset. London: Faber & Faber.