Greyfriars in Canterbury was the first Franciscan friary in England.
Greyfriars in Canterbury was the first Franciscan friary in England.
The first Franciscans arrived in the country in 1224 (during the lifetime of the Order's founder St Francis of Assisi) and the friary was set up soon afterwards. The Order of Friars Minor or ‘Greyfriars’ [1] were so named because their habit was of grey cloth with the traditional belt of rope with three knots symbolising their vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. Vowed to poverty, the Order made a point of living in the meanest of buildings. However, by 1250, they recognised the practical need for land and buildings to sustain themselves. Beginning in 1267, the Canterbury house was rebuilt in stone, supported by the donation of land by Alderman John Digge, a former Bailiff of Canterbury. From here, the friary was erected, with the great Church within the friary consecrated by Archbishop Walter Reynolds in 1325. [2]
In 1498 the Canterbury house was formally confirmed as a Province of the newly established Observant Franciscans, a reformed, more rigorous branch of the order introduced to England in the previous decade. This building fell under the patronage of King Henry VII of England.
Under his son, Henry VIII, however, the brothers of Greyfriars suffered because of their unwillingness to accept the Royal Supremacy over the newly established Church of England. In 1534, several brothers of the Greyfriars Friary were imprisoned, and two (plus the Warden of the Observant Friary of Canterbury, Richard Risby) were executed for refusing the terms of the Act of Supremacy and lending support to the anti-Reformation mystic Elizabeth Barton. The ‘Holy Maid of Kent’ was a visionary nun that had denounced Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and his remarriage to Anne Boleyn. In December 1538, the Bishop of Dover, Richard Yngworth (or Ingworth), received in the King's name the surrender of all the Canterbury friaries with their lands and property. The remaining friars, having promised ‘not to follow hensforth the supersticious tradicions of ony foryncicall potentate or peere’, were given five shillings apiece and dispersed.
Excavations seeking to detect the precise location of the friary buildings, and determine the layout of the Franciscan buildings, have continued through the twentieth century, and are of great historical interest today. [3]
Elements still visible above ground include the surviving 13th century building spanning the river (variously interpreted as a guest house or warden's lodging, and known as the Greyfriars Chapel today); the remnants of the friary church incorporated into the eastern boundary of the Franciscan Gardens site; and part of a stone bridge across the main river channel, along with the stone revetments upstream of it. The foundations of the chancel have been revealed in excavations, as have those of an attached structure to the north, believed to be a Lady Chapel, and of a detached structure interpreted as a bell-tower. The location of a second bridge and the friary's lay brothers’ cemetery has also been confirmed. Franciscan friaries typically also comprised a refectory, dormitory, chapter house, study, library and infirmary, but the precise arrangement of the domestic ranges at Canterbury is uncertain; both west and south ranges are believed to have been extended outside the quadrangle at some point after 1275.
After the Dissolution, the Canterbury friary was surrendered to Richard Ingworth, an agent of Thomas Cromwell and later Bishop of Dover. The property was sold to Thomas Spylman (one of the Court of Augmentations officers responsible for disposing of former church property) for £100, who turned it into a private house. The next owner, Thomas Rolfe, made considerable alterations to the land, and on his death bequeathed his estate to the executors of his will, William Lovelace (MP) and John Dudley. After Rolfe's widow contested the will, and ownership was decided by the probate courts, the original will was ruled legal, and by 1566, the property was acquired by the Lovelace family. All that remains of the buildings as they stood in the Lovelace family's time is a single wall, across the river from the restored guesthouse (now known as Greyfriars Chapel). The Greyfriars House property remained in private hands for centuries.
It is believed that one room of the guesthouse building, now Greyfriars Chapel, was used as a temporary prison cell in the late eighteenth century for inmates due for transportation. To this day, the names of inmates and dates of incarceration are carved into the wooden walls of the cell, including ‘T Woollett, November 1819, for 14 days for running’.
In the nineteenth century, the grounds were used as a tea garden, and from 1914 to 1994, as a market garden with public access. The market garden was an important Canterbury business in the hands of the well-known Smith family. Derek Smith, the last family member to work in the business, was born in Assisi Cottage, a small residence within the Franciscan Gardens.
In 1919, Major HG James, the owner of the Greyfriars estate, attempted to restore the single surviving building from the estate to its original form, and commissioned some excavation of the grounds. This building was the former guesthouse, which is now known as the Greyfriars Chapel.
This was modernised by Dr John Burgon Bickersteth and Harry Jackman QC in the mid-twentieth century, developing the upper rooms into a vestry and chapel. This renovation was completed in memory of Julian Bickersteth, Archdeacon of Maidstone from 1942 to 1958.
In 1958, the Greyfriars estate and Franciscan Gardens were purchased by the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral.
In 2000, the Greyfriars Chapel and Franciscan Gardens were sold to the Eastbridge Hospital of St Thomas the Martyr, Canterbury, who currently oversee the everyday maintenance of the building, and the weekly services in the chapel. Surrounded by the Franciscan Gardens, it is a haven of peace in the middle of a bustling city.
Greyfriars is a Roman Catholic friary and parish located in East Oxford, which until 2008 was also a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. Situated on the Iffley Road in East Oxford, it was one of the smallest constituent halls of the university. Its status as a permanent private hall (PPH) derived from the fact that it was governed by an outside institution, rather than by the fellows of the University as a constituent college is.
The Palace of Placentia, also known as Greenwich Palace, was an English royal residence that was initially built by prince Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, in 1443. Over the centuries it took several different forms, until turned into a hospital in the 1690s. The palace was a place designed for pleasure, entertainment and an escape from the city. It was located at Greenwich on the south bank of the River Thames, downstream from London.
Eastbridge Hospital, also known as The Hospital of Saint Thomas Becket the Martyr, is a Hospital in the old sense of the word short for Hospitality and was founded in the 12th century in Canterbury, England, to provide overnight accommodation for poor pilgrims who were travelling to the shrine of St Thomas Becket. It is now one of the ten almshouses still providing accommodation for elderly citizens of Canterbury and is a grade I listed building.
Greyfriars, Grayfriars or Gray Friars is a term for Franciscan Order of Friars Minor, in particular, the Conventual Franciscans. The term often refers to buildings or districts formerly associated with the order.
The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels is a papal minor basilica situated in the plain at the foot of the hill of Assisi, Italy, in the frazione of Santa Maria degli Angeli.
Greyfriars Church is an evangelical Anglican church, and former Franciscan friary, in the town centre of Reading in the English county of Berkshire. The church forms part of the Church of England's Diocese of Oxford.
The Mayslake Peabody Estate is an estate constructed as a country home for Francis Stuyvesant Peabody between 1919 and 1922. The estate is located in the western Chicago suburb of Oak Brook, Illinois, United States, and is now part of the Mayslake Forest Preserve administered by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County.
Nysted Friary, located in Nysted, on the island of Lolland in southern Denmark, now in Guldborgsund municipality in Region Sjælland, was the last occupied Franciscan friary in Denmark after the Reformation.
The Shrine of St. Anthony is a Catholic shrine honoring St. Anthony of Padua. The shrine is located within the St. Joseph Cupertino Friary in Ellicott City, Maryland, USA. The shrine is a ministry of the Conventual Franciscan Friars, Our Lady of the Angels Province, USA.
The Franciscan Friary, Copenhagen was the most important Franciscan friary in Denmark.
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.
Dorchester Friary, also known as Dorchester Priory, was a Franciscan friary formerly located in Dorchester, Dorset, England.
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.
The Franciscan Friary was once a large estate located on the west side of Lichfield city centre in Staffordshire. The estate was built and inhabited by the Franciscan Friars from 1237. At one time the estate consisted of a large church, a cloister, dormitory lodge and a refectory building as well as many other domestic dwellings.
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".
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.
The Friary, formally known as Blessed Agnellus of Pisa Friary, formerly All Saints Convent or St John's Home is a centre of formation for the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Conventual in Cowley, Oxford, England. The building was constructed in 1873 as the convent of the Anglican Society of All Saints Sisters of the Poor. It is situated between St Mary's Road and Cowley Road, next to St John's Care Home and Helen & Douglas House. The friary and its chapel are Grade II listed buildings.
St Thomas of Canterbury Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in Woodford Green, Woodford, London. It was built from 1895 to 1896, was designed by Alexander Scoles and has been served by the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor since its foundation. It is located on Woodford Green road next to Trinity Catholic High School. It was funded by Henrietta Pelham-Clinton, Duchess of Newcastle, who also paid for the friary, a primary school, a school for girls, a house for the Poor Servants of the Mother of God, and is buried in the church.