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Founded by St. Aldhelm in AD 705, the Abbey has developed from Saxon Cathedral to the worshipping heart of a Monastic Community, and finally, to one of the most beautiful of England's parish churches. For many it is still the 'cathedral of Dorset', and our Benedictine heritage lives on in the daily offering of prayer and praise.

Sherborne Abbey is one of only 18 churches awarded 5 stars in Simon Jenkins' England's Thousand Best Churches. He writes " I would pit Sherborne's roof against any contemporary work of the Italian Renaissance".

See also the reredos by Lawrence Whistler and the Great West Window designed by John Hayward, dedicated in 1998 in the presence of HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The Abbey Organ was rebuilt and a new Nave Section added to the west wall in 2005.