Augustine of Canterbury, sent by Pope Gregory I, founded the abbey after King Æthelberht gave him his former pagan temple and its precincts. William Thorne dates the foundation to 598, though Augustine arrived in 597. The stone church was consecrated in 613. Archbishop Dunstan reorganized it under Benedictine rule.
After 1066 the Anglo-Saxon buildings were rebuilt as a Norman Benedictine monastery, and by 1100 a Romanesque structure had replaced all the originals. Rebuilding continued after a fire in 1168. From about 1250 the cloister, refectory and kitchen were rebuilt, and Abbot Fyndon rebuilt the Fyndon Gate between 1301 and 1309.
The abbey surrendered to the Crown on July 30, 1538, and from 1541 its stone was removed and sold. English Heritage manages the ruins, which cover 20.8 acres (8.42 hectares) and are part of a UNESCO site listed in 1988. The public entrance is on Longport.
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