During the 14th century the black death killed many villages and the Abbot, and the village was repeatedly attacked from the sea, reducing the power of the abbey. In 1538Henry VIIIdissolved the Monasteries and Abbotsbury Abbey was ruined as a condition of its sale so that its stone could be reused. The Great Barn, which at 272ft by 31ft is the largest thatched building in the world, and St Cathrene's Chapel were spared, the latter used as a lookout across the sea.
Sir Giles Strangways, the commisioner who had dissolved Abbotsbury, bought the Abbey buildings, manor houses, water mills and Abbotsbury Swannery and much of the Abbey's land for £1,906, 10s. Much of the land still belongs to Strangeways' descendent, the Earl of Ilchester. The dissolution left the village impoverished.
External links
History of Abbotsbury (http://www.abbotsbury.co.uk/history.htm)
The rest of his relics are in another silver shrine in the Augustinian abbeychurch of Saint Lupus.
Sometimes he is shown (1) enthroned, a man under his feet; (2) standing on an armed man; (3) with a halberd and dagger; (4) with a halberd and loaf; or (5) with a halberd and axe (Roeder).
In English iconography Olaf is included on the seals of Grimby Abbey and Herringfleet Priory in Suffolk, on the 15th-century screen at Barton Turf in Norfolk, on an ivory crozier in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and in glass at York Minster.
007432: - A Guide to the Town Abbey and Antiquities of Bury Saint Edmund's with Brief Notices of the Villages and Country Seats Within a Circuit of Eight Miles
300990: ANON - History of the Abbey and Palace of Holyrood
000927: COOPER, T. The Abbotsbury Guide; a Pamphlet Published for the Instruction of Visitors to the Parish of Abbotsbury, Dorset, Including an Account and Views of the Monsastery, Abbey, St. Catherine's Chapel, Parish Church and Swannery
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