Standing at the heart of the city of Bath is the historic abbey which was founded in 1499.
Three different churches have stood on the site over the last 12 centuries but the abbey is now an active parish church which celebrated its 500th birthday in 1999.
An Anglo-Saxon abbey church, dating from 757AD once stood here but was pulled down by the Norman conquerors of England soon after 1066. This was followed by a Norman cathedral in about 1090. It was larger than the monastery could afford to maintain though and by the end of the 15th century was in ruins.
Next came the present abbey church founded in 1499 and ruined after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 by order of Henry VIII. However, since then, through the support of successive generations, the abbey has been restored to the magnificent building it is today.
When you visit the abbey, hidden below your feet lie traces of the earlier churches that take the history of Christian worship in this spot back over 1,000 years, while the Heritage Vaults carry a story of Christianity in Bath even earlier, to around 350AD.
Bath Abbey Heritage Vaults Museum opened in 1994 to collect and care for items of interest associated with the abbey and preserve them for future generations. It occupies the cellars that once belonged to houses that stood alongside the abbey. The exhibition also brings together fragments of the old churches providing a wealth of history.
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