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Lacock Abbey was founded in 1232 and was a nunnery for Augustinian canonesses until 1539 when Henry VIII suppressed the nunnery and sold the Abbey to William Sharington.

Sharington converted the Abbey into a country house whilst retaining many of the original features; cloisters, sacristy, monastic rooms and chapter house. A stable block with brewhouse and bakery was built around a courtyard to make Lacock Abbey a true gentleman's residence.

The Gothic Entrance Hall was added by John Ivory Talbot in the 18th Century and Fox Talbot remodelled the south elevation to include a gallery in the 19th Century. One of the oriel windows in the gallery appears in the earliest known photographic negative, taken by Fox Talbot in 1835.

The interior is much as it was when William Sharington converted it, adding partition walls, ceilings and floors to create new rooms in the large spaces of the original nuns' refectory and dormitory. The house contains many portraits, fine furniture and stone carvings. The carvings are of particularly high standard by John Chapman, a stonemason to Henry VIII.

Lacock Abbey has a pleasant wooded garden with a summer house and rose garden.

The reception building houses the Fox Talbot Photography Museum and a very good selection of photography books in the bookstore.

Lacock Villageand Lacock Abbey were given to the National Trust in 1944 by the granddaughter of Fox Talbot, Matilda Talbot. The village is well worth a visit.

Attractions near Lacock Abbey include Bath, Fox Talbot Photography Museum at Chippenham, Borough Parade near Chippenham, Corsham Court at Corsham, Palace Cinema & Bingo Hall near Devizes, Cumberwell Park Golf Club at Bradford-On-Avon, Old Swan Yard Shopping Development near Devizes.