Muchelney Abbey is an English Heritage property in the village of Muchelney in the Somerset Levels, England. The site consists of ruined walls showing the layout of the abbey buildings constructed from the 7th to 16th and the remaining intact Abbott’s House. It is next to the parish church in which some of the fabric of the abbey has been reused.

It comprises the remains and foundations of a medieval Benedictine abbey, the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon abbey, and an early Tudor house dating from the 16th century, formerly the lodgings of the resident Abbot, which is now a Grade I listed building.^[1] The ruins of the abbey have been scheduled as an ancient monument.^[2][3]

The abbey was founded in the 7th or 8th century, damaged by Viking raids and rebuilt and refounded in the 10th century. It owned and managed local land. The buildings were expanded from the 12th to 16th centuries until its dissolution in 1538. Most of the buildings were demolished and the stone used in local buildings, although the Abbot’s House and reredorter survive. Some of the tiles and other decorative features from the monastic church were reused in the adjacent parish Church of St Peter and St Paul. Since 1927 the ruins have been in public ownership.

William Blake

Our plan for the day was to visit Dorchester having changed our plans and bypassed it earlier in the week. I was keeping an eye on the weather and thinking about a visit to Muchelney Abbey, a place recommended as a wet weather visit by the member of staff we got chatting to whilst visiting Sherborne Old Castle. We chose Muchelney Abbey in Langport  as sunshine and clouds were forcast there rather than the rain that was forecast in all other areas nearby. Muchelney Abbey is interesting with many rooms intact and has the only complete thatched monks’ lavatory in England.

While we were at Muchelney Abbey we had a long chat with the member of staff that was manning the entrance desk. We discussed the history of the area and some of its links to history in Shropshire. Later we walked around the corner to visit the Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul. As we entered we were surprised to see a groom with his best man and ushers and noticed that the church was all decked out ready for a wedding. They were just about to leave so were able to spend a few minutes to enjoying the features of the church without disrupting their preparations.

We then drove to Barrington Court, restored by Colonel Lyle between 1920 and 1925. We enjoyed a walk around the gardens before lunch, after which we took a tour of the house.

There was still time to spare so we visited Tintinhull Garden which we had noticed earlier in the day whilst we were on our way to Muchelney Abbey. Before walking around the gardens we had tea and cake, in my case cranberry and yoghurt flapjack. The gardens were delightful.

Before dining in the hotel, we had a sparkling elderflower gin and tonic aperitif. In celebration of World Gin Day the hotel was promoting this cocktail which included a sprig of elderflower from its own kitchen garden. Whilst dining we noticed that another couple had chosen the tasting menu and that they were being served at a much more leisurely pace than we had been the day before.