A male Benedictine house was founded through the generosity of Orc, Cnut's steward, and his wife Tola. On Orc's death, Tola retained an interest in the foundation and bequeathed all her goods to the house. Another source reported that a priest and his wife lived at a church on the property (Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 1, 276). In his longer treatment of Abbotsbury, Dugdale makes no mention of resident religious women, Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 3, 52-62). Though dubious according to Foot, M. A. Meyer suggests that religious women may have also been associated with this monastery (Patronage of the West Saxon Royal Nunneries in Late Anglo-Saxon England, 332-358).
Orc, steward of Cnut, and his wife Tola founded the monastery and continued to see to its welfare through their lifetimes.
Domesday Book: a survey of the counties of England, vol. 1, fo 78rb-va
Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 1
Patronage of the West Saxon Royal Nunneries in Late Anglo-Saxon England, 332-358.
Veiled Women, vol. 1, and Vol. 2, 15-16.
Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 3, 52-62.
Abbotsburry Abbey, in Dorsetshire,
The Lost Cartulary of Abbotsbury
The Victoria History of the County of Dorset2:48-53 available online at ">http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=40138&strquery=abbots... [Victoria County History]
The Old Malthouse, Abbotsbury, Dorset: the medieval watermill of the Benedictine abbey.
Deliciae clericorum: intellectual and scientific pursuits in two Dorset monasteries.
St. Catherine of Alexandria and her cult at Abbotsbury.
In the later Anglo-Saxon period, two religious women, Eadwulfu and Saethryth, had a connection to the male community, probably as vowesses (Veiled Women, vol. 1, 184).
This entry is listed by Foot as having "no grounds" for being included as a place that housed religious women. Need more evidence for women at Abbotsbury.
