Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. Founded in 888, the abbey was the wealthiest Benedictine nunnery in England, a major pilgrimage site, and the town's central focus. The abbey was dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VIII. At the time it was the second wealthiest nunnery in England, behind only Sion Abbey.