Located in the Somerset Levels, Muchelney Abbey is a set of ruins and a couple of surviving buildings of a Benedictine abbey that dates from the 7th century. It was damaged by Vikings and rebuilt in the 10th century. The abbot's house is the re-purposed 16th century Tudor house. The parish chirch of St. Peter and St. Paul next to the ruins were built using stone from the ruins. A rare feature at the location is the monks' lavatory, and it is located next to the abbot's house. It is intact, and visitors can climb up stairs to see the seating with archways below where someone would clean out the mess.
The abbey was built on an island in the middle of marshy land, and the site was actually used with other religious buildings in 693. The abbey was mentioned in the Domesday book.
Visitors to the abbey can explore the abbot's house, which now houses some items as a museum. The remaining part of the cloisters houses some interesting stonework, carvings, and tiles from the abbey. The abbot's house survived because it was used as a farmhouse.
One of the rooms on display was the kitchen. It is thought that up to 50 monks would have lived at Muchelney in the 12th and 13th centuries, but there would have been less in later centuries due to the Black Death.
Other rooms had different functions to the life of the monks, and some other rooms contained items on display.
A few rooms retrain traces of wall painting, and visitors can make out some of the patterns and colours. The "painted chamber" is one of those rooms. It is thought to date to the 1500s.
The abbot's room is the most lavishly-decorated with beautiful carvings over the fireplace and stained glass in the windows. It dates to the 1500s.
Outside the house, visitors can see the footprint of the old church and some tombs buried in the ground.
The thatched lavatory is a rare example in England of this type of building which has miraculously survived. It is the best-preserved latrine building in Europe and could be accessed from the first floor of the dormitory.
Muchelney Abbey is under the management of English Heritage.
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