The first religious foundation established for women in England, Alfred's daughter, Æthelgifu was installed as abbess.

[1] By the Middle Ages, the abbey had become a very wealthy institution, and it established the grange at Place Farm as the administrative centre of its Wiltshire estates.

[5] Margaret Wood, in her history, The Medieval English House, wrote that although the gatehouses are not properly defensive in a military sense, they would provide protection "against bands of marauders or discontented peasantry".

[7] The tithe barn is let to Messum's, the art dealers,[8] while other farm buildings are occupied by the charity, International Cat Care.

A room in the house has a frieze which carries the initials AM, that probably reference the collector Alfred Morrison who owned the estate in the 19th century.