The site consists of ruined walls showing the layout of the abbey buildings constructed from the 7th to 16th centuries, and the remaining intact Abbot's House.

There is believed to have been a religious building erected on the site as early as 693, with a charter being granted by Cynewulf in 762,[5][6] although the Benedictine monks were not established there until the 10th century.

[7] The refounders of the Abbey are not completely clear; however in a document of 1535 (drawn up following the Valor Ecclesiasticus), Centwine, Ine, Æthelstan and Æthelred are claimed as founders.

[8][9][10] Tradition suggests that Æthelstan's contribution was penance for the murder of Atheling Edwin in 933 or following victory at the Battle of Brunanburh in 937.

[11] At that time in 1086 the abbey paid a tax of 6,000 eels a year caught from the local rivers and marshes.

The abbot successfully appropriated the nearby Perry Moor and surrounding areas and was involved in their drainage and management.

[14] A manuscript fragment containing the abbey's bede-roll[15] dating from the 12th and 13th centuries is held in the library of St. John's College, Cambridge.

[17] Much of the abbey was rebuilt under abbots William Wyke (1489-1504) and Thomas Broke (1505-1522) with the funding being provided by the leasing of the Demesne farm.

[29] The only intact structure is the Abbot's House with well-preserved architectural features including external stonework and inside a great chamber with ornate fireplace, carved settle and stained glass, and timber roof.

[31] An unusual attraction is the nearby thatched two-storey monks' reredorter or lavatory, which is considered unique in Britain.