Greyfriars, Bristol | |
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General information | |
Architectural style | monastic |
Town or city | Bristol |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 51°27′29″N2°35′44″W / 51.458098°N 2.595649°W |
Construction started | 13th century |
Demolished | 16th century |
Greyfriars, in Bristol, England, was a Franciscan friary. The name Greyfriars derived from the grey robes worn by the friars. It was founded at some time before 1234, within the town walls and then moved to Lewin's Mead in 1250. The site included extensive gardens surrounded by a stone wall. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century, the premises were leased to the town council in 1541, who desired to use the stone to make repairs to the town walls, and the harbour facilities. In succeeding centuries many different uses have been made of the site, which is currently occupied by an office block and part of Bristol Dental School.
The friary was established at some time before 1234, this being known because Henry III granted wood for fuel to the friars in that year, [1] followed by further grants of oak wood and fresh fish landed at Bristol. [2] [3] The friars wore long grey coats, with a grey hood or cowl, hence the name, grey friars. [4] Originally located within the town walls, the friary was moved to Lewin's Mead in 1250. This followed the diversion of the river Frome into St Augustine's Reach. A marshy area on the north bank of the Frome was drained and some of the clay and rock from the excavations was deposited on it. [5]
The earliest church on the site was approximately 50 by 9 metres (164 ft × 30 ft). It was later enlarged with cloisters, a bell tower and a chapter house being added. [6] The buildings were constructed from the local red sandstone. Bristol City Museum houses some stained glass which was recovered from the chapter house, probably after the dissolution of the monasteries. [5] Writing in the fifteenth century, William Worcester described the area of the precinct as roughly bounded by the modern Upper Maudlin Street, Lower Maudlin Street, Lewin's Mead and Johnny Ball Lane. The friars had extensive gardens devoted to horticulture. [7] There were also two lime kilns and the whole was surrounded by freestone walls. [8]
A report in 1538, by Richard Yngworth, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, describes the warden of the friary as "stiff". The warden also held office in Richmond and Yngworth went on to say "yet for all his great port, I think him twenty marks in debt, and not able to pay it." [9] Six remaining friars surrendered the property to Ingworth and it was dissolved. [10] The precinct was leased to one Jeremy Green for a total annual rent of 20 shillings and 8 pence. [11] In 1541, Henry VIII granted the friary, together with other dissolved houses, to the Mayor and Commonalty of Bristol for a "consideration of £1,000 cash and a yearly fee farm rent of £20". [12] The Mayor had earlier petitioned the king, saying "The Grey Friars of Bristol is of the foundation ... of the town, built by ancient burgesses at their cost; we should like it to repair the walls and quay and to make a wharf." [13]
The site has been redeveloped many times in subsequent centuries; amongst other uses, a Moravian church and a chocolate factory have occupied premises there. [14] It is currently occupied by an office development, also called Greyfriars, [15] and parts of Bristol Dental School.
Traces of the abbot's house were discovered during building works in 1989 and a small oval window was incorporated into the new building. [5] Archaeological investigations have found graves with human remains, dating to the thirteenth to fifteenth century, [16] and a medieval conduit, [14] similar to one excavated at Saint Augustine's Abbey in Bristol. [17]
Lewin's Mead is an area of Bristol, England, part of the city ward of Cabot, in the historic centre of the city, lying just outside the former medieval town walls. Several old buildings survive, including the Unitarian Chapel constructed in the late 18th century, an old sugar house and the ancient thoroughfare known as Christmas Steps. The 13th century St Bartholomew's Hospital which became Bristol Grammar School in the 16th century is situated at the bottom of Christmas Steps.
Greyfriars in Canterbury was the first Franciscan friary in England.
Austin Friary was an Augustinian friary in Bristol, England. It was established in 1313, when Simon de Montecute gave 100 square feet (9.3 m2) of land within the Temple Gate of Bristol. Further gifts of land were made by William de Montecute and Thomas of Berkeley during the next thirty years.
Blackfriars, Bristol was a Dominican priory in Broadmead, Bristol, England. It was founded by Maurice de Gaunt in 1227 or 1228. Llywelyn ap Dafydd, son of Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last native Prince of Wales, was buried in the cemetery of the priory. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, surviving parts of the priory became a guildhall for the Smiths and Cutlers Company, the Bakers Company, a workhouse and then Bristol Quaker meeting house. In the 20th century, it has housed the local register office, a theatre company, and a restaurant.
Whitefriars was a Carmelite friary on the lower slopes of St Michael's Hill, Bristol, England. It was established in 1267; in subsequent centuries a friary church was built and extensive gardens developed. The establishment was dissolved in 1538.
Derby Dominican Priory, also known as Derby Black Friary, or Blackfriars, Derby, was a Dominican priory situated in the town of Derby, England. It was also named in different sources as a friary, monastery and convent, but was officially a priory as it was headed by a prior and the Dominican Order calls all their houses Priories. The "Black" came from the colour of the mantles worn by the friars of the order.
Greyfriars, Stamford was a Franciscan friary in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. It was one of many religious houses suppressed and closed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. The site is now part of the NHS Stamford and Rutland Hospital.
Boston Friary refers to any one of four friaries that existed in Boston, Lincolnshire, England.
Great Yarmouth Grey Friary was a Franciscan monastic house in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England which was under the Custody of Cambridge.
Greyfriars Nottingham was a Franciscan friary in Nottinghamshire, England. It was founded c. 1224–1230, and dissolved in 1539 as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. The site of the friary is now occupied by the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.
Greyfriars, Dunwich was a Franciscan friary in Dunwich in the English county of Suffolk. The friary was founded before 1277 by Richard FitzJohn and his wife Alice and dissolved in 1538. The original site, which had 20 friars in 1277 when it first appears in records, was threatened by coastal erosion and the friary was moved inland in 1289.
Greyfriars was a medieval Franciscan priory in Coventry, England. The original monastic buildings were lost in the Reformation; the spire standing on the site today was most recently part of a 19th-century church that was destroyed in an air raid in the Second World War. The spire, also called Christchurch Steeple, is a Grade II* listed building.
The buildings known as Whitefriars are the surviving fragments of a Carmelite friary founded in 1342 in Coventry, England. All that remains are the eastern cloister walk, a postern gateway in Much Park Street and the foundations of the friary church. It was initially home to a friary until the dissolution of the monasteries. During the 16th century it was owned by John Hales and served as King Henry VIII School, Coventry, before the school moved to St John's Hospital, Coventry. It was home to a workhouse during the 19th century. The buildings are currently used by Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry.
In London, the Greyfriars was a Conventual Franciscan friary that existed from 1225 to 1538 on a site at the North-West of the City of London by Newgate in the parish of St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Franciscan religious house to be founded in the country. The establishment included a conventual church that was one of the largest in London; a studium or regional university; and an extensive library of logical and theological texts. It was an important intellectual centre in the early fourteenth century, rivalled only by Oxford University in status. Members of the community at that time included William of Ockham, Walter Chatton and Adam Wodeham. It flourished in the fourteenth and fifteenth century but was dissolved in 1538 at the instigation of Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Christ's Hospital was founded in the old conventual buildings, and the church was rebuilt completely by Sir Christopher Wren as Christ Church Greyfriars after the original church was almost completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. The building now standing on the site, designed by Arup Group Limited, is currently occupied by Merrill Lynch.
Greyfriars, Leicester, was a friary of the Order of Friars Minor, commonly known as the Franciscans, established on the west side of Leicester by 1250, and dissolved in 1535. Following dissolution the friary was demolished and the site levelled, subdivided, and developed over the following centuries. The locality has retained the name Greyfriars particularly in the streets named "Grey Friars", and the older "Friar Lane".
Blackfriars Leicester, also known as St Clement's Church, Leicester and St Clement's Priory, Leicester, is a former priory of the Order of Preachers in Leicester, England. It is also the name of a former civic parish, and a neighbourhood in the city built on and around the site of the old priory.
Nottingham Whitefriars is a former Carmelite monastery located in Nottingham, England.
Newark Friary, also known as Newark Greyfriars and Newark Observant Friary, was a friary of the reformed "Observant Friars" of the Franciscan Order, located in the town of Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. The friary as founded by Henry VII around 1499, and dissolved by his son Henry VIII in 1539.
grey friars.