Lacock Abbey (monastery)
- This article relates to the period when Lacock Abbey was an Augustinian nunnery. For the history of the abbey from the Reformation to the present day, see Lacock Abbey.
Lacock Abbey, the cloister | |
Interactive map of Lacock Abbey | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | The Abbey Church of the Blessed Mary and St Bernard |
| Other names | "locus beate Marie" ("the place of the Blessed Mary") |
| Order | Augustinian Canonesses regular |
| Established | 1229 |
| Disestablished | 1539 |
| Dedicated to | Virgin Mary |
| Diocese | Salisbury |
| People | |
| Founder | Ela, 3rd Countess of Salisbury |
| Site | |
| Location | Lacock, Wiltshire, England |
| Visible remains | most extensive remains of a medieval nunnery in England, but church demolished |
| Public access | National Trust |
Lacock Abbey was a monastery founded at Lacock, in the English county of Wiltshire, in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a house of Augustinian canonesses regular. It was seized by the crown in 1539 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII. The building then became a country house, Lacock Abbey, notable as the site of Henry Fox Talbot's early experiments in photography.