Soham Abbey facts for kids

Soham Abbey was an Anglo-Saxon monastery in Soham, which at the time was in the Kingdom of East Anglia. Constructed by St Felix of Burgundy during the early part of the 7th century, it was the first Roman Christian site to be established in Cambridgeshire.

The Danes attacked East Anglia in 869. The abbey was destroyed and it was never rebuilt, although a church and a palace were erected.

Abbey church

It is believed that the church was of a squat, low design with a long north transept, and 4 or 5 bays long with a round tower standing nearby. St. Felix was originally buried here.

Soham's current church (dedicated to St Andrew not to Felix) is believed to have been built on the same site as the abbey, although the structure dates from Norman times: the earliest part is the crossing (which cannot be seen from the outside) dating from the twelfth century.

Description

This evidence is taken from a later woodcut that shows the abbey surrounded by monastic buildings and with a wall and moat around the complex. The moat can be traced today in a circle starting at the new vicarage and following Station Road, Gardiners Lane, Clay Street, Brook Dam Lane and Paddock Street, then back to the vicarage.