Romsey Abbey on Church Road in Romsey is the largest parish church in Hampshire. It was founded in 907 as a Benedictine nunnery for Ælflæda, daughter of King Edward the Elder. King Edgar gave land and rededicated the church in 968. Vikings burned the original church in 993, and it was rebuilt in stone around the year 1000.
The present Norman church was built from about 1130 to 1140 by Henry of Blois, Bishop of Winchester and Abbot of Glastonbury. In 1544 the town bought the abbey buildings from the Crown for £100, and the St Lawrence section was demolished. Parliamentarian troops damaged the church in 1643 and destroyed the organ.
The Reverend Edward Lyon Berthon was largely responsible for the nineteenth-century remodeling and restoration. J. W. Walker and Sons built the main organ in 1858. Eight bells were installed in 1791.
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