The original Abbey

Pictures in the entrance corridor show how the grounds of St Peter’s lie over part of the site of Eynsham Abbey which in various forms existed here from 1005 until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII which took place here in 1538. The Abbey is also illustrated outside the Church by a plaque on the Car Park wall and some information about the Abbey is also published on Eynsham OnLine. The Abbey Church was to the north of this site on the oldest part of the Church of England graveyard, but the far end of the graveyard of St Peter’s lies over the site of the Abbey Cloister and other buildings.  

The plaque on the Church wall – plaque is part of the Archeological Site Trail opened in 2011 and supported by a leaflet available inside the Church. 

This area was excavated by the Oxford Archaeological Unit between 1989 and 1992  when many items of interest were found including the bones of a number of people assumed to be monks as well as a few post-Reformation bodies that are probably Catholics who could not be buried in Church of England grounds.

Photographs from the Abbey excavation by the Oxford Archaeological Unit in August 1990:

   The original stone ornaments found during the Abbey excavation, now in the Church corridor. 

The ancient Sarsen stone found during the Archaeological dig.