• In 655 the original church was founded as Medeshamstede Abbey by King Peada of Mercia.
• In 870 it was destroyed by the Vikings.
• In the 10th century there was a monastic revival and a Benedictine Abbey was created.
• There is only a small section of the original Saxon Abbey that remains beneath the south transept of the Cathedral.
• Excavations were made to uncover the remains, but they are inaccessible to the public.

Architecture:

The remains of the Saxon abbey were found near the northwest angle of the southwest pier in the nave. It runs west into the Nave and east into the crossing. At the southeast angle there is a strong but shallow foundation and lower down there is a second wall. Eastwards to this wall, stone coffins and burials were found. To the west a stone seat was found covered in Saxon plastering.

There was Saxon plaster flooring found in the area. Some of the flooring was removed and fine fragments of string or string ornamented with interlacing work, which is now built up into the southwest pillar. A holy water basin was also found.

The burials and stone coffins found to the north proved that there was once a churchyard on the site. There were enough remains found to gauge how wide the Saxon transept would have been. According to usual Saxon custom, the floor inside was lower than the ground outside, which is why the interior wall remained about three courses high and had a considerable amount of plaster remaining on it.

The Saxon east wall of the south transept was uncovered exposing a mass of masonry intended to support the altar, this was an addition to the Saxon church. 2 transepts were found, the length of the north one was over 9.5m (over 31ft). It was 10.4m (34 ft 8 in) wide from west to east and 9.5m (31ft 8 in) wide from choir to south transept. The width across the 2 transepts was 27.8m (91ft 11.25 in). Reused stones from a former church were also found to exist in the walls of both transepts.

The whole Saxon walls were excavated and vaulted over, and the floor of the vault is that of the old Saxon Abbey Church of 1066.