Abbotsbury Swannery is a nesting colony of mute swans near the village of Abbotsbury in Dorset, England. The Swannery is located on a two-acre site beside the Fleet Lagoon and sheltered from Lyme Bay by Chesil Beach. It is the world’s only managed swannery and is home to more than 600 swans, including about 150 breeding pairs. Swannery Records date to 1393, though it likely existed much earlier. The Swannery is believed to have been founded by Benedictine monks in the eleventh century. Monks from the eleventh-century Benedictine monastery of St. Peter’s managed the swans as a convenient source of meat for its banquets.