Burnham Abbey

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Burnham Abbey was founded for a community of Augustinian Canonesses in 1266 by Richard, Earl of Cornwall, brother of King Henry III, reputedly in thanksgiving for his release from captivity after the Battle of Lewes in 1265.

The Abbey was built around a cloister garth, with a frater, church, guest house, kitchen and two storey quarters for the nuns. The infirmary was a separate building connected by a passage to the east range.

It continued to operate until it was suppressed at the Reformation and the Abbess and nine nuns, who formed the community in 1539, dispersed. 

After the dissolution, the Abbey was leased to William Tyldesley and subsequently came into the possession of the Wentworth family. The church was demolished and a private house formed from much of the remaining buildings. In due course it became a farm and the buildings gradually fell into disrepair. In 1913 it was purchased by James Lawrence Bissley, an architect and surveyor, who restored the remaining buildings and converted the original pre-reformation chapter house into a chapel.

In 1916 James Bissley sold the property to the Society of the Precious Blood who, in 1952, enlarged the chapel without spoiling its simplicity.

There is still a piece of the north wall of the ancient church in the present refectory. Most of the east range still has medieval walls. Further sections of the original abbey are in the Sisters' garden.

Grade 1 listed, Burnham Abbey is one of the best surviving medieval religious houses in Buckinghamshire.

​