Thame Abbey, Medieval Cistercian abbey ruins in Thame, United Kingdom
Thame Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery whose Tudor-period structures were later incorporated into a residential country house called Thame Park. Two wings of the original complex survive and are now protected as a listed monument.
Bishop Alexander of Lincoln founded the abbey in 1138, though it first began at another location under the name Sancte Marie de Parco Thame. It closed in 1539 during Henry VIII's dissolution of monasteries.
The abbey shaped religious life in the region for centuries as a center of Cistercian monastic practice. Today you can read the importance of this community in the surviving structures that still define the landscape.
The site is easy to reach and located near Thame in Oxfordshire with access from various directions. Keep in mind that the complex is part of a private country house, so views from outside may be limited.
The monastery originally began at a place called Otteley before being relocated to its final home. This relocation makes it a less common example of how medieval religious communities sometimes moved to establish themselves more firmly.
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