The Abbey House

The Abbey House is a large house dating from the 16th to early 17th century, with significant 18th-century rebuilding and later alterations. The semi-basement may incorporate remnants of earlier abbey buildings, and the foundations of the west end of the Abbey Church are located within the garden. Original features from the 16th and early 17th centuries include basement windows and a fine, enriched plaster ceiling; formerly, there were contemporary fireplaces. A Georgian staircase and ceiling above were added during the 18th-century rebuilding. The north-west front is of two storeys and a basement with an attic, consisting of five bays, built of ashlar. It features a stone modillion cornice and parapet, with three windows on the second floor and a canted bay at the east end. A 18th-century doorway was originally on this front, but it has since been removed to the east end. The south-east front has an early 20th-century castellated stone porch built over earlier foundations, incorporating fragments of medieval sculpture which may have come from the medieval abbey of Shaftesbury.