Mottisfont Abbey is a historical priory and country estate in Hampshire, England. Sheltered in the valley of the River Test, the property is now operated by the National Trust. 393,250 people visited the site in 2019. The site includes the historic house museum which features regularly changing art exhibitions, gardens, including a walled rose garden which is home to the National Collection of ancestral species and 19th-century rose cultivars, and a riverside walk. It is a Grade I listed building. History Priory Fertile land and a plentiful water supply attracted the first settlers. The site's name comes from a spring ("font") that is still producing water in the grounds. It was the font around which the local community held its moots or meetings. An Augustinian priory was founded here in 1201 by William Briwere, a businessman, administrator and courtier to four Plantagenet kings who chose to make a public demonstration of his wealth and piety. The canons welcomed pilgrims en route to Winchester, who came to worship Mottisfont's relic, said to be the finger of St John the Baptist. Struck by the Black Death, the initially prosperous priory suffered from the mid-14th century onwards. Its landholdings included the church at Berwick St James, Wiltshire. House During the Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII, the priory was dissolved and in 1536 the king gave Mottisfont to a favoured statesman, Sir William Sandys (died 1540), who turned it into a country home but, rather unusually, chose not to demolish the existing priory. Sandys instead turned the church nave into the main body of the new mansion, building additional wings on either side. Sections of the original medieval church may still be seen, with the later additions built around them. The 13th-century cellarium also remains present today. In the 18th century, the old monastic cloisters and Tudor courtyard were demolished by the Mill family, creating the modern appearance of the house's facade. It was at this time that the owners added "Abbey" to the name of the house rather than the more historically correct "Priory". The National Trust speculates that the name was considered to be more romantic. Under Sir John Barker Mill, in the early 19th century, the estate became a centre for hunting, shooting and fishing, and a new stable block was built. The last decades of the 19th century saw Mottisfont let to wealthy banker Daniel Meinertzhagen under eccentric