The Abbey of thorney is located in Cambridgeshire in the East of England.

The first attested construction in the area is the monastery of the mid-seventh century, destroyed during the raids of the Vikings in the late ninth century. In the year 970 there was founded a Benedictine monastery, rebuilt after the Norman conquest of 1066. The construction of a new Church began in 1085 and was completed in 1108, although already in 1089, the Cathedral became operational. The Abbey was patronized by the king of England Henry I of Blerk.

At the junction of the XII-XIII centuries because of the threat of flooding the Abbey was abandoned, but in the middle of the XIII and XIV centuries after the construction of more reliable fortifications of the place was re-inhabited. In the XVII century the Abbey of thorney, greatly increased in size – were added stables, rooms for guests and workhouse. However, all this has a documentary evidence, and after the dissolution of the monasteries in 1539 the Abbey was demolished, retaining only the main Cathedral. In 1638 it was renovated as a parish Church of the virgin Mary and the Holy Botolph Ikenskoe. At the same time destroyed the chapels of the Cathedral and built a vaulted gallery. The Eastern facade, though, and retained elements of the Norman style, was rebuilt in the years 1840-1841 famous English architect Edward Blore. The layout of the Abbey represented in the Museum thorney.

In the Abbey of thorney buried more than a dozen medieval saints, martyrs and bishops, including the Holy Botolph Olenski, which is devoted to the main Cathedral.

In 2002, the University of Leicester conducted archaeological work in the vicinity of the Abbey of thorney. In addition to pottery products, tiles and animal bones were found glass from the stained glass Windows of the XIII-XIV centuries. These details of the stained glass window is made very intricate and very well preserved.