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There has been a church on the site for over 1300 years since Etheldreda, Queen of Northumbria made a grant of lands to Wilfrid, Bishop of York c.674. Of Wilfrid's Benedictine abbey, the Saxon crypt and apse still remain.
In Norman times Wilfrid's abbey was replaced by an Augustinian priory. The current church largely dates from that period (c.1170-1250), in the Early English style of architecture. The choir, north and south transepts and the cloisters, where canons studied and meditated, date from this period.
The east end was rebuilt in 1860 and the nave, whose walls incorporate some of the earlier church, was built in 1908.
In 1996 an additional chapel was created at the east end of the north choir aisle. Named St Wilfrid's Chapel, it offers a place for prayer or quiet reflection.
Since the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1537, the Abbey has been the parish church of Hexham.