The Priory Church, Leominster | |
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![]() Leominster Priory | |
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Denomination | Church of England |
Website | www |
History | |
Founder(s) | Reading Abbey |
Architecture | |
Style | Norman and later styles |
Administration | |
Diocese | Diocese of Hereford |
The Priory Church is an Anglican parish church in Leominster, Herefordshire, England, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The building was constructed for a Benedictine Priory in about the 13th century, although there had been an Anglo-Saxon monastery in Leominster, possibly on the same site. In 1539 the east end of the church was destroyed along with most of the monastic buildings, but the main body of the church was preserved.
Quatrefoil piers were inserted between 1872 and 1879 by Sir George Gilbert Scott. [1] The building is a grade I listed building. [2]
The bells of the church are very rare.[ citation needed ] There are ten now, but the back eight bells were cast by William Evans of Chepstow in 1755. In 1894, two new bells were cast by John Warners of London.
The Tenor weighs 22cwt 3qrts and is in the key of E-flat. [3]
Investigations to the north of the priory in 2005 located the position of the cloister, although most of the stone had been stolen following the Dissolution. Discarded animal bones found on the site when submitted to carbon dating showed that the area was occupied in the 7th century. This agrees with the date of 660 CE associated with the founding myth, which suggests a Christian community was established here by a monk, St. Eadfrith, originally from Lindisfarne in Northumbria. [4]
In the churchyard are graves and memorials of members of the theatrical Kemble family including the grandparents of actress Sarah Siddons. [5] The churchyard also contains one war grave of a soldier of the Royal Army Service Corps of World War II. [6]
The earliest known English women doctors, Solicita and Matilda Ford, are known from charters confirming their brother John's grant of land to the priory in the late twelfth century, where they both sign themselves as medica. [7]
Dore Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in the village of Abbey Dore in the Golden Valley, Herefordshire, England. A large part of the original medieval building has been used since the 16th century as the parish church, with remaining parts either now ruined or no longer extant.
Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England; it is located at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is 12 miles north of Hereford and 7 miles south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster is the largest of the five towns in the county; the others being Ross-on-Wye, Ledbury, Bromyard and Kington.
Pembridge is a village and civil parish in the Arrow valley in Herefordshire, England. The village is on the A44 road about 6 miles (10 km) east of Kington and 7 miles (11 km) west of Leominster. The civil parish includes the hamlets of Bearwood, Lower Bearwood, Lower Broxwood, Marston, Moorcot and Weston. The 2011 Census recorded the parish population as 1,056.
Pipe and Lyde is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England. The parish includes the village of Pipe and Lyde and the hamlets of Lower Lyde and Upper Lyde. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 344. Parts of the church of St Peter date from the 13th century including the south doorway which includes Transitional moulding. James Honeyman-Scott (1956-1982), the Pretenders guitarist, is buried in the churchyard.
Yarpole is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Croft and Yarpole, Herefordshire, England, about 4.5 miles (7 km) north-west of Leominster. The village is near the county boundary with Shropshire and about 7 kilometres (4 mi) south-west of Ludlow. The hamlet of Bicton is to the south, Bircher to the north-east and Croft to the west. In 1961 the parish had a population of 394. On 1 April 1987 the parish was abolished and merged with Croft to form "Croft and Yarpole".
St Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst, is the Church of England parish church of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, England. Much of the church is Anglo-Saxon. It was built in the 8th century, when Deerhurst was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. It is contemporary with the Carolingian Renaissance on mainland Europe, which may have influenced it.
St Mary and All Saints Church is in the centre of the village of Great Budworth, Cheshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Chester and the deanery of Great Budworth. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. Clifton-Taylor includes it in his list of 'best' English parish churches. Richards describes it as "one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical architecture remaining in Cheshire". The authors of the Buildings of England series express the opinion that it is "one of the most satisfactory Perpendicular churches of Cheshire and its setting brings its qualities out to perfection".
St Peter's Church is in Chapel Street, Congleton, Cheshire, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building. It is an active Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Chester, the archdeaconry of Macclesfield and the deanery of Congleton. Its benefice is combined with those of St Stephen, Congleton, St John the Evangelist, Buglawton, and Holy Trinity, Mossley. Alec Clifton-Taylor includes it in his list of 'best' English parish churches. The Church Buildings Council included St Peter's in its group of 300 Major Parish Churches following research produced in 2016. [Pursell 2016]
The Church of St Mary, Ecclesfield, is situated on Church Street in the village of Ecclesfield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is situated 4.3 miles (7 km) north of the city centre. It is a Grade I listed building, one of only five within the Sheffield city boundary. It was originally the parish church for Hallamshire, one of the largest parishes in England and in the seventeenth century was known as the "Minster of the Moors" due to its then rural situation.
Lancaster Priory, formally the Priory Church of St Mary, is the Church of England parish church of the city of Lancaster, Lancashire, England. It is located near Lancaster Castle and since 1953 has been designated a Grade I listed building. It is in the deanery of Lancaster, the archdeaconry of Lancaster and the Diocese of Blackburn. Its benefice is combined with that of St John and St Anne.
St Cosmas and St Damian Church is an Anglican church in the village of Keymer, in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. Rebuilt in 1866 in a style similar to the Saxon building it replaced, it is the parish church of Keymer and now lies within a combined parish serving three villages in Mid Sussex. The church bears a very rare dedication to the twin Saints Cosmas and Damian, Christian martyrs of the 4th century. It is a grade II listed building.
Monkland is a small village in the parish of Monkland and Stretford, in Herefordshire, England, about three miles (5 km) west of Leominster.
Leonard Stanley Priory was a priory in Gloucestershire, England. Over the years following the dissolution most of the buildings of the priory complex have been destroyed.
Deeping St James Priory was a priory in Deeping St James, Lincolnshire, England. It was a dependency of Thorney Abbey.
St Mary the Virgin's Church is a former priory church in the village of Bromfield, Shropshire, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Ludlow, the archdeaconry of Ludlow, and the diocese of Hereford. Its benefice is united with those of 5 other parishes to form the Bromfield Benefice. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building.
The Church of St Mary and St Melor is the parish church of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire. The Grade I listed church dates from the 12th century and may be connected with the 10th-century Amesbury Priory or its 12th-century successor, Amesbury Abbey.
Ford and Stoke Prior is a civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, and is 10 miles (16 km) north from the city and county town of Hereford. The closest large town is the market town of Leominster, adjacent at the north-west. The parish includes the hamlet of Ford, the village of Stoke Prior, and the medieval parish churches of St Luke and St John of Jerusalem. At the west of the parish is the site of a Romano-British settlement.
Pudleston, is a small village and civil parish, in the county of Herefordshire, England, and is 13 miles (20 km) north from the city and county town of Hereford. The closest large town is Leominster 4 miles (6 km) to the west. At Pudleston is the c.1200 Church of St Peter, and the 1846 Tudor-Gothic Pudleston Court.
Hatfield and Newhampton is a civil parish in the county of Herefordshire, England, and is 11 miles (18 km) north from the city and county town of Hereford. The closest large town is Leominster 4 miles (6 km) to the west. The parish includes the small village of Hatfield, the former extra-parochial liberty of New Hampton, the site of former abbey lands of Fencote, the preserved Fencote railway station, and the Grade II* listed 11th-century Church of St Leonard.
Solicita and Matilda Ford are the earliest known English women doctors by 150 years. They were Anglo-Norman sisters who practiced medicine in the small settlement of Ford, Herefordshire, England, in the late twelfth century.