Pershore abbey may have been founded in 689 though this cannot be reliably confirmed, a fire that destroyed the monastry's archives in 1002 not helping matters! Pershore was a Saxon religious house with the patronage of the Mercian kings though most details of the abbey's early existence are either lost or cannot be reliably confirmed. In the late 10th century the abbey was reestablished as Benedictine. However, this did not stop it going into a decline with the abbey losing some of it's lands as it fell foul of late Saxon politics. The abbey was destroyed by fire in 1002 (which is when the archives were lost).
The abbey recovered however and by 1020 it was active again. The main abbey building dates from about 1100. The abbey was dissolved in 1539 and the abbey partially demolished. The tower, choir and south transept survived and remains the parish church of the Holy Cross to this day.
