| Summary : A monastery is first recorded at Muchelney in a charter of King Cynewulf of Wessex dated 762. There is a forged charter of King Ine dated to 725 which relates to Muchelney Abbey.The parish church has evidence of Saxon work, and excavations on the abbey site clearly showed the foundations of a Saxon church there too. The abbey surrendered rights in the late 14th century which clearly indicate that Muchelney had a minster. It is probable that prior to the abbey's reform to the Benedictine order circa 937 Muchelney had minster status. It can be assumed that either the Benedictine monastery continued to occupy the site of the minster, and an entirely new church was built for the parishioners, or it was built afresh on an adjacent site with the minster becoming the parish church. In either case, it cannot be proved which site the minster occupied. Although excavated in 1950, the excavations have not been published. (See ST42SW5 and 7) |