Amesbury

Okaaaaaaay, welcome to Amesbury! We stopped here on the way home from Stonehenge/Old Sarum, but I'm posting it first since it was alphabetical in the folders. Take that.

Amesbury is a town in Wiltshire, England. It is most famous for the monument of Stonehenge, which is in its parish.

Amesbury is quite a small town, although it has some lovely buildings on the high street.

After a quick lunch we wandered over to the church of St. Mary and St. Melor.

There has been a place of worship in Amesbury long before the present church. The history of the present building begins in 979 when Queen Elfreda founded a Benedictine Abbey in expiartion of her crime in aiding the murder of her step-son, King Edward. As well as being dedicated to St. Mary, the church is also dedicated to St. Melor, a boy saint who was murdered by his uncle in strangely similar circumstances to King Edward.

Here's a quick history of the next thousand or so years: Aifric, Biship of Wiltshire was made Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of Kind Ethelred and his Witan on Easter Day 995. King Henry II re-founded the Abbey as part of the Order of Fontevrault, and the buildings were extended and enlarged. In 1283 Kind Edward I's daughter Mary entered the Convent where she spent the rest of her life. In 1287 King Edward I's mother, Eleanor of Provence also took her vows and on her death was buried here, although the precise location is not know (she is the only Queen of England without a known grave). In 1501 Katherine of Aragon stayed in the Abbey on her way to London to marry Prince Arthur, King Henry VIII's elder brother.
After the reformation the abbey was dissolved and many of its buildings were destroyed. The lands were given to the Seymour family and the Abbey Church to the people of Amesbury, who have been allowed to use part of the Abbey as their parish church.

This is the view looking down the nave to the 18th Century organ. The organ's original case is partly constructed of old pew ends.

I didn't take a whole lot of photos inside, but you can see more on a website here.
This church also came with a lovely old man who told us all about the church. He was super friendly, although unfortunately we had to leave to catch our last bus back to Salisbury.

Up next, Stonehenge!