Founded in 1232 and converted into a country house around 1540, the fine medieval cloisters, sacristy, chapter house and monastic rooms of the Abbey have survived largely intact. The handsome 16th-century stable courtyard includes a clockhouse, brewery and bakehouse. The Photographic Museum commemorates the achievements of a former resident of the Abbey, William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-77), inventor of the negative/positive photographic process, whose descendants gave the Abbey and village to the Trust in 1944.

Fox Lacock village, which dates from the 13th century and has many limewashed half-timbered and stone houses, was used as a location in the TV and film productions of Pride and Prejudice, Moll Flanders and Emma.

The Abbey itself featured in the recent Harry Potter films.