Collection: Shaftesbury Abbey Museum and Garden

Collection-level records:

• Collection history (Collection development policy)

  The Shaftesbury Abbey Museum & Gardens Preservation Trust in its present form was established in 1985 as a Charitable Trust Company limited by guarantee.  The Trust holds the freehold of property comprising:

  • the Abbey ruins and garden (which includes a medieval herb and fruit collection);
  • museum galleries and storeroom;
  • shop, reception and office; and
  • the “Lodge” (an on-site building housing the library, meeting/activities/exhibition space plus additional storage).

  The collections were donated to the Trust on its inception by the then owners (including the then owners of the Abbey ruins and garden). Those collections and all subsequent donations have been formally accessioned. All items in the collections are recorded on the Abbey’s MODES database. The collections do not include any loaned items, nor has the museum loaned any items out.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2022

  Licence: CC BY-NC

• Collection overview (Collection development policy)

  A full description is to be found in the Museum’s Catalogue and Accession Register.

  The most significant parts of the collections are:

  • High quality carved stonework from the Abbey, dating from the Saxon period to the 16th Century, comprising approximately 600 pieces;
  • Decorated encaustic floor tiles of the Wessex School, over 3,000 pieces;
  • Painted and stained medieval window glass fragments, over 3,000 pieces;
  • Carved alabaster plaques, c 14th Century, taken from the cross in the grounds;
  • Stone surrounds to graves and coffins from within the Abbey grounds;
  • A lead casket found on site in 1931, containing the bones of a 10th Century adolescent male. The bones, traditionally ascribed to St. Edward King and Martyr, are no longer in the Abbey’s possession;
  • 15th Century polychrome carvings, known as the St Gregory Mass, donated by Dorset County Museum.

  Source: Collection development policy

  Date: 2022

  Licence: CC BY-NC