Repton Abbey

The abbey is traditionally recorded as being founded in about 600 AD by Saint David. However, another source states that the abbey may have been founded around 60 years later by the Mercian royal family. In 697 the abbey, when under the control of Abbess Alfthritha, was visited by Guthlac, who wished to receive "the tonsure and religious dress, determined to do penance for his sins". Guthlac left the abbey to live a solitary life as a hermit. The abbey's crypt was constructed in the first half of the 8th century (before 740), and is thought to have originally been a baptistery, as it is built on top of a natural spring. It was later converted for use as a mausoleum, with the first interment…