Thetford Priory
Thetford Priory was a Cluniac monastic house in Thetford, in Norfolk. It now lies in ruins.
One of the most important East Anglian monasteries, Thetford Priory was founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary. In the 13th century, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in a vision to locals requesting the addition to the site of a Lady Chapel. During its construction, the old statue of her on the site was discovered to have a hollow in its head concealing saints' relics, and became a magnet for pilgrims.
Description
The priory housed the tombs of the Howard dynasty, of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, and of other early Tudor Dynasty officials. Even this could not save the priory from the Dissolution of the Monasteries and, on its closure in 1540 (it was one of the last priories to be dissolved), the Howard tombs were removed to St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham.
Its ruins (including the lower walls of the church and cloister, along with the impressive shell of the priors' lodging and, reached by a pathway from the main site, an almost complete 14th-century gatehouse) are open to the public as an English Heritage site. The priory and gatehouse are Grade I listed buildings.[1][2]
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, another Grade I listed building,[3] is 350 yards to the south, across the River Little Ouse in Suffolk.
Outside links
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("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Thetford Priory) |
- Location map: 52°24’59"N, 0°44’33"E
- Thetford Priory - English Heritage
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1297875: Remains of Priory of Our Lady of Thetford including Prior's Lodging
- ↑ National Heritage List 1195946: Priory Gatehouse
- ↑ National Heritage List 1195947: Remains of Priory of St Sepulchre