Selsey Abbey

Selsey Abbey
13th century seal with (possibly) a picture of Selsey Cathedral.
Capitular seal with picture of Selsey Cathedral?[a][2]
Monastery information
OrderBenedictine[3]
Establishedc. 681
Disestablishedc. 1075 community moved to Chichester[2]
Dedicated toSt Peter?[b]
People
Founder(s)St Wilfrid
Site
LocationChurch Norton
Selsey
West Sussex
England
Coordinates50°45′17″N 00°45′54″W / 50.75472°N 0.76500°W / 50.75472; -0.76500

Selsey Abbey was founded by St Wilfrid in AD 681 on land donated at Selsey by the local Anglo-Saxon ruler, King Æðelwealh of Sussex, Sussex's first Christian king. The Kingdom of Sussex was the last area of mainland England to be evangelised.

The abbey became the seat of the Sussex bishopric, until it was moved to Chichester, after 1075 when the Council of London decreed that sees should be centred in cities not in villages. The location of the abbey was probably at the site of, what became, the old parish church at Church Norton just north of modern-day Selsey.

  1. ^ Heron-Allen. Selsey Historic and Prehistoric. p. 114 and fig.2.
  2. ^ a b Kelly. The Bishopric of Selsey in Hobbs. Chichester Cathedral: An Historic Survey. pp. 1–10.
  3. ^ Heron-Allen. Selsey Historic. p. 117.
  4. ^ Heron-Allen. Selsey Historic. pp. 119–120.


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