Abbey

Properly, a monastic or conventual establishment, presided over by an abbot or abbe : differing from a priory mainly in extent and in the title of the chief ecclesiastic, IMG:content-0018.png:[merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][subsumed] and some abbey-churches, as Westminster and St. Albans in England, were architecturally as extensive and important as the cathedrals. Hence the term, in common usage, is often restricted to the abbey-church.