Built to house Benedictine monks, the Norman abbey was near completion when consecrated in 1121. Embellishments to the long nave roof and the apsidal chancel were made in the first half of the 14th century in the Decorated style. After the dissolution in 1540, the Abbey Church was sold to the parishioners for £453. The architectural historian Pevsner considered that the abbey has "...probably the largest and finest Romanesque tower in England.”

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