Denny Abbey - Secular Use

Secular Use

The abbey was closed in 1536, shortly after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and was once more taken over by the Crown. The last of the nuns had left within two years. The Abbess' lodge, originally built for the Countess, was retained as a farmhouse, and the Refectory as a barn, but the nave was demolished. In 1628 the abbey passed into private ownership. Pembroke College, Cambridge, which had also been founded by the Countess of Pembroke in 1347, bought the site in 1928.

John George Witt, the well-known barrister and Q.C./K.C. of Victorian and Edwardian England, was born at Denny Abbey in 1836. He died in London in 1906.

The Abbey, Nuns Refectory and surrounding land remained a farm until they were leased in 1947 to the Ministry of Works, which later transferred them to English Heritage. The abbey, partially restored in the 1960s, is open to the public alongside the Farmland Museum, who manage the Abbey on behalf of English Heritage.

The Farmland Museum, which opened in 1997, has a shop, cafe and an Education Centre, running courses for local schools. Farm buildings and a 17th century stone barn have been converted into displays of local history and farming, including a 1940s farm labourer's cottage, a 1930s village shop, displays on local crafts and skills. Many of the old farm tools and machinery came from a museum at Haddenham which closed. The whole site, known as Farmland Museum and Denny Abbey, is open from April to October, and there are regular special event days.

Note: The spellings Denny and Denney appear with equal frequency in the historical literature. The latter spelling is no longer used locally, in modern times.