Netley Abbey

Netley Abbey is a ruined late medieval monastery, founded in 1239 as a house for Roman Catholic monks of the austere Cistercian order. In 1536, Netley Abbey was closed by Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the building was converted into a mansion by William Paulet, a wealthy Tudor politician. The abbey was used as a country house until the beginning of the eighteenth century, after which it was abandoned and partially demolished for building materials.

The extensive remains consist of the church, cloister buildings, abbot’s house, and fragments of the post-Dissolution mansion.