Wenlock Priory, or St Milburga's Priory, is a ruined 12th century monastery, located in Much Wenlock, Shropshire, at grid reference SJ625001. Roger de Montgomery re-founded the Priory as a Cluniac house between 1079 and 1082, on the site of an earlier 7th century monastery.[1] In 1101 bones, believed to be those of Saint Milburga, were discovered beneath the floor of the old church. The relics were ceremoniously translated to the main monastery church.[2][3]
Parts of the building became a house later known as "Wenlock Abbey", which is privately owned, but most of Wenlock Priory is open to the public under the care of English Heritage and is used mostly for recreational purposes. The grounds have a collection of topiary.[4]
History
Early history
Merewalh, King of the Magonsaete, a sub-kingdom of Mercia founded the original Anglo-Saxon monastery here circa 680 and Merewalh's daughter Milburga became its second abbess, and was later canonised. At that time called "Wimnicas" it was a double monastery, housing both monks and nuns.[5] After her death in 715, however, little is historically known of the monastery until the Norman Conquest. The priory continued to be inhabited by monks at least until the mid 11th-Century, when endowments were made by Leofric, Earl of Mercia.[6]
Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, was one of the great Norman lords during William the Conqueror's reign. He re-founded Wenlock as a Cluniac house, bringing monks from La Charité-sur-Loire in central France.[5][7] The monastery was established by 1086, when it is recorded in the Domesday Book.[6]
In 1101, repairs were being made to the Holy Trinity Church, probably the original nun's church, and bones were found under the floor of the church. These were believed to be those of Saint Milburga, and were transferred to the main monastery church. The story of the discovery is told in the Miracula Invenlionis Beale Mylburge Virginis, attributed to Odo, Cardinal bishop of Ostia.[2][6] Shortly after this, Goscelin of St. Bertin wrote a life of the saint, which together with miracles recorded at her shrine revived a local cult which endured through the Middle Ages.[1][8]
The monastery church was rebuilt in the late 12th and early 13th-Centuries. The visible remains of the church largely date to this period. Pevsner suggests a date of completion of 1200-1240 on stylistic grounds.[7] King Henry III stayed at Wenlock on several occasions in the 1230s, and made numerous gifts to the priory. There are charges recorded for transporting wine to Wenlock for the king's visits. The Prior at this time was Humbert, and he travelled to Wales several times as the King's envoy.[9][5]
Around the Priory, the town of Much Wenlock was formed. The town is made up of a small network of intricate, narrow streets lined with timber-framed black and white buildings. Within the town is the well of St Milburga of Wenlock which was said to have cured sight impairments and helped Victorian women find a suitor.[10]
Dissolution
Following the dissolution in 1540, several buildings, including the late 15th-century Prior's House, were converted into a private residence later known as "Wenlock Abbey".
See also
References
- ^ a b Angold, M.J.; Baugh, G.C.; Chibnall, Marjorie M.; Cox, D.C.; Price, D.T.W.; Tomlinson, Margaret; Trinder, B.S. (1973). "Houses of Cluniac monks: Abbey, later Priory, of Wenlock". In Gaydon, A.T.; Pugh, R.B. (eds.). A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 2. London: British History Online. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ^ a b Edwards, A.J.M. (1961). "An early twelfth-century account of the translation of St Milburga of Much Wenlock" (PDF). Trans Shropshire Archaeol Soc. 57: 134–151.
- ^ Hayward, Paul Antony (1999). "The Miracula Inventionis Beate Mylburge Virginis Attributed to the Lord Ato, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia". The English Historical Review. 114: 513–573. JSTOR 580382.
- ^ English Heritage website, Facilities at Wenlock Priory retrieved 13 February 2018
- ^ a b c "History of Wenlock Priory". English Heritage. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
- ^ a b c Woods, Humphrey (1987). "Excavations at Wenlock Priory, 1981-6". Journal of the British Archaeological Association. 140: 36–75. doi:10.1179/jba.1987.140.1.36.
- ^ a b Pevsner, Nikolaus (1958). The Buildings of England: Shropshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin. p. 209.
- ^ Yarrow, Simon (2013). "The Invention of St Mildburg of Wenlock: Community and Cult in an Anglo-Norman Shropshire Town". Midland History. 38: 1–15. doi:10.1179/0047729X13Z.00000000014.
- ^ Warren, H.Langford (1891). "Notes on Wenlock Priory". The Architectural Review. 1: 1-4 (2).
- ^ "Local Wonders: Wenlock Priory". BBC Shropshire History. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
External links
Media related to Much Wenlock Priory at Wikimedia Commons
- Adrian Fletcher’s Paradoxplace – Wenlock Priory Photos
- Photographs and Information from Strolling Guides
- Page at English Heritage
- Information for teachers: English Heritage
- Page on Topiary in the United Kingdom
Coordinates: 52°35′51″N 2°33′18″W / 52.59739°N 2.55506°W / 52.59739; -2.55506