Editing St Benet's Abbey (section)

==Later ownership==
[[File:StBenetOfHolmAbbey.jpg|thumb|Remains of the abbey church nave, looking toward the high altar]]
After the Dissolution the greater part of the buildings at the site were demolished, with the exclusion of the gatehouse,<ref>Julian Luxford, ''Architecture and Environment: St Benet's Holm and the Fashioning of the English Monastic Gatehouse'', in ''Architectural History'' 57 (2014) 31–72.</ref> which is now a Grade I listed building.<ref>{{NHLE| num = 1171673|desc=Gatehouse to St Benets Abbey |accessdate = 5 March 2014}}</ref>

In the second half of the 18th century, a farmer built a windmill, later converted to a [[windpump]], inside the abbey gatehouse, removing the second floor of the gatehouse in the process.

From the early 18th century, active attention was paid to drainage of the marshland around the site. From various surviving illustrations, it appears that a first windmill-powered land drainage was erected around the middle of the 18th century, and some decades later was replaced by another, attached to the front of the ruined gatehouse. By at least 1813, to facilitate movement of the windmill sails the upper floor of the gatehouse was removed to provide room for the sails to turn. The sails survived until at least 1854 but had been destroyed by 1863.

The wind-powered mechanism, which at time ceased operating and is itself now a ruin, is a grade II* listed building.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1171700 |desc=St Benets Level Windpump at TG 39941564 |accessdate=5 March 2014}}</ref>

Between 1782 and 1886 just along the river from the gatehouse there was a wherryman's riverside pub called ''The Chequers''.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.ludhamarchive.org.uk/Chequers.htm| title= Name: St Benet's House (''The Chequers'' pub) |publisher= Ludham Archive|access-date = 8 August 2017}}</ref>

In 1925 the site became one of Britain's first [[Scheduled monument|scheduled ancient monuments]].

In 1993 the main part of the site was bought by the Crown Estate and in 2002 sold to the Norfolk Archaeological Trust which in 2004 purchased the gatehouse and mill from the Diocese of Norwich. The ruins of the church remain the property of the diocese, which has leased them to the Trust for 199 years. In recent years essential conservation repairs have been carried out on the ruins and visits to the site have been facilitated by the laying out of a new car park and access paths, while large numbers of volunteers undertook graffiti recording, molehill and wildlife surveys, and maintenance and provided guides. Aside from several scientific studies, the site has become the focus of intense local interest.<ref>Tim Pestell, ''St Benet's Abbey: Guide and History'', Norfolk Archeological Trust, Norwich, 2007, pp. 41–43.</ref>

[[File:BenetsCross.jpg|thumb|upright|The modern cross at the high altar of the St Benet's Abbey ruins]]
On 2 August 1987 a [[cross]] made from [[oak]] from the royal estate at [[Sandringham House|Sandringham]] was erected on the high altar.