Christian worship has taken place at this location for over a thousand years. The Abbey Church of Saint Peter & Saint Paul, was constructed at the site of a small wooden Anglo Saxon Church in 1083.
After the Dissolution of all Monasteries by King Henry VIII, much of the Abbey was destroyed, part of the Abbey survives to this day as a Parish Church.
The Abbey Church is the Parish church of Holy Cross, Shrewsbury in the Dioceses of Litchfield.
Shrewsbury Abbey Parish - WW2 - WM 13890.
Description;
"RECTANGULAR-HEADED PLAIN SLATE TABLET SURMOUNTING A CHILMARK STONE BACKBOARD WITH BASE, PEDIMENT AND FLANKING COLUMNS. INSCRIPTION IN GILT LETTERING COLOURED ABBEY COAT OF ARMS ABOVE INSCRIPTION"
Inscription;
"1939 - 1945/ THE ABBEY ROLL OF HONOUR/ (Names)" Text Source; (
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Shrewsbury is located in the landlocked county of Shropshire on the border of the Welsh Marches of Mid & North Wales, & to the East is surrounded by the Counties of Cheshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire & Worcestershire.
Detailed history of the Abbey;
"The site of Shrewsbury Abbey is a very ancient one. A wooden Saxon church of St. Peter, possibly a small monastery, was recorded here in the Domeday Survey. St. Wulfstan, the Bishop of Worcester (from 1062), used to stop there to pray on his journeys between Chester and his own Sées.
The Benedictine Abbey of today, however, is a post-Conquest foundation, dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. It was in 1083 that the priest of St. Peter's, returning from a pilgrimage to Rome, persuaded Roger de Montgomery, the newly appointed Earl of Shrewsbury, to raise the already existing church into a grand abbey. Roger had two monks brought from his lands in Sées (Normandy) to direct the building arrangements and monastic life was established four years later. Fulchered, the first Abbot, also came from Sées. The founder himself took the vows in his Abbey in 1094, three days before his death.
Though the Abbey flourished, during the early twelfth century, the monks of Shrewsbury apparently felt their monastery incomplete for the lack of the relics of a special patron to honour and bring glory to the name of God - not to mention lucrative offerings from vast hoards of pilgrims. The Prior, Robert Pennant, therefore took it upon himself to find a suitable candidate whose remains he might appropriate for his Abbey Church. With his Abbot's blessing, he led an expedition into Wales where, in 1138, he acquired the bones of St. Gwenfrewi from the inhabitants of Gwytherin in Gwynedd. Known as St. Winifred to the English, this lady was brought back to Shrewsbury and enshrined, probably behind the high altar, with great ceremony. Her holiness did indeed make the Abbey a major pilgrimage centre, bringing honour and prestige to its Abbots.
The Medieval Abbots of Shrewsbury were some of the most significant ecclesiastics in the Country. They were often drawn into political life because of their great diplomatic and administrative skills. They would be called upon to inspect the local militia and survey the town's castle; they served as Justices of the Peace and as gaolers for important hostages; and, from the 13th century, they sat in Parliament." Text Source & More Info; (
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Summer (April - October) : Monday-Sunday, 10am - 4pm (last entrance 3.45pm).
Winter (November - March) : Monday-Sunday, 10.30am - 3.00pm (last entrance 2.45).