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ANDERSEY ISLAND

ALTERNATIVE NAME:  CHURCH OF ST ANDREW
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The island of Andersey was the site of a royal residence from an early period. In his great charter of 993, Aethelred II refers to the `royal buuilding' on the `estate called Abingdon'. Shortly before the Conquest, Andersey was granted by Abingdon Abbey to a wealthy secular priest named Blacheman, who built a church dedicated to St Andrew, and an elaborate house built around a cloister. After the Conquest, Blacheman, who had attached his fortunes to those of Gytha, Earl Godwin's widow, and fled the country after the siege of Exeter. His estates were siezed by King William, who converted Andersey to a royal residence. However, in 1101-2 the buildings were ruinous, and Henry I granted permission to the Abbot of abingdon to demolish the buildings and use the materials to rebuild his monastery. According to Leland the buildings were fortified, and in the 16th century the site was still known as the `Castle of the Rhae'. He says the site was almost in the midle, between the old and new bottom of the Isis, and that an old barn stood on the site.

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