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It has been suggested that the name of Amesbury is derived from [[Ambrosius Aurelianus]], leader of Romano-British resistance to Saxon invasions in the 5th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Applebaum |first=Shimon |date=1983 |title=A note on Ambrosius Aurelianus |journal=Britannia |volume=14 |pages=245–246 |doi=10.2307/526352}}</ref> If this is the case he is likely to have used the hill fort as a stronghold.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} It is possible that an order of monks established a monastery in the area that was destroyed by the Saxons before they settled the area in the 7th century.<ref>[http://www.elfinspell.com/TimbsAmesbury.html Elfinspell: Amesbury Monastery]</ref> Amesbury is also associated with the [[King Arthur|Arthurian]] legend: the [[convent]] to which [[Guinevere]] retired was said to have been the one at Amesbury.<ref>Chandler & Goodhugh, p. 16</ref>
In 979 AD a Benedictine abbey, the [[Amesbury Abbey|Abbey of St Mary and St Melor]], was founded on what may have been the site of a previous [[monastery]] by Dowager Queen [[Ælfthryth, Queen of England|Ælfthryth]].<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=36534 British History Online: Houses of Benedictine nuns: Amesbury]</ref> In 1177 the abbey was dissolved by [[Henry II of England|Henry II]]<ref>[http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getchurch.php?id=583 Wiltshire County Council – Church Information]</ref> and replaced with a double [[Amesbury Priory |priory]] of the [[Fontevraud]] order.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06129b.htm Catholic Encyclopaedia: Order and Abbey of Fontevrault]</ref> [[Eleanor of Provence]] was buried in the [[Amesbury Priory |priory]] on 11 September 1291. At some point in time it seems likely that the church became the parish church, and it is possible that this is why it was spared destruction in 1540 when, as part of the [[English Reformation|reformation]], the [[Amesbury Priory| priory]] and all other associated buildings were destroyed. Amesbury became an estate and was given to [[Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford]] by [[the crown]].<ref>Chandler & Goodhugh, p. 24</ref>
On [[John Speed]]'s map of [[Wiltshire]] (1611), the town's name is spelt both ''Amesbury'' (for the [[hundred (county subdivision)|hundred]]) and ''Ambersbury'' (for the town itself).
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