St Katherine's Priory, Lincoln

Last updated

The Priory of Saint Katherine without Lincoln
Lincolnshire UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location within Lincolnshire
Monastery information
Order Gilbertine
EstablishedMid 12th Cent
Disestablished14 July 1538
Mother house Sempringham Priory
Diocese Lincoln
Controlled churchesSaint Wilfred's, Alford with Rigsby Chapel

• All Saints, Bracebridge

• All Saints, Canwick (A Prebend)

• Saint Michael and All Angels, Hackthorn

• All Saints, Harmston

• All Saints, Friskney

• Saint Margaret's, Marton

Mere

St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent

• The chapel in Newark Castle

• Saint Peter's Newton on Trent

North Hykeham

• Saint Peter's, Norton Disney

Saxby

• All Saints, Stapleford
People
Founder(s) Saint Gilbert of Sempringham, Bishop Robert de Chesney
Architecture
Functional statusdefunct
Site
Location St Catherine's Lincoln, U.K.
Coordinates 53°12′46″N0°32′49″W / 53.2129°N 0.5470°W / 53.2129; -0.5470
Visible remainsNo remains
Public accessPublic access to all roads in Saint Catherine's that have been built over the site and to the Parish Church of Saint Katherine built over the site of the Priory Church

St Katherine's Priory also known as The Priory of Saint Katherine without Lincoln was a Gilbertine priory of Canons Regular on the Fosse Way just outside the walls of Lincoln, England. The priory ran the Hospital of St Sepulchre, probably the first hospital in the city.

Contents

History

The community which followed the Rule of Saint Augustine was founded not long after the approval of St Gilbert's order in 1148 when Robert de Chesney invited them to minister in the city. The priory and church came with the Hospital of Saint Sepulchre which had been established by Bishop of Lincoln Robert Bloet sometime between 1093 and 1123. The community was chiefly male, made up of around 16 Canons, but there is evidence of a number of female lay sisters living alongside to help with medical care in the hospital.

The community was under the patronage of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, a fourth century Egyptian missionary, philosopher and martyr, the patron saint of learning and the dying. The key figures were the prior, the sub-prior, the cellarer, the precentor, and the sacrist. In addition to the duties of singing the eight daily Liturgies of the Hours and the Conventual Mass in the priory church the Canons also had responsibility for the care of numerous other parishes. These included the prebendary of Canwick, the Parish of St Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent, and the chapel in Newark Castle, as well as the parishes or Rectories of Alford with Rigsby Chapel, Bracebridge, Hackthorn, Harmston, Friskney, Marton, Mere, Newton on Trent, North Hykeham Norton Disney, Saxby and Stapleford. Ministry in these parishes would largely have been left to hire secular clergy, but some of the closer villages like Bracebridge may have been under the direct auspicies of the Canons. A large part of their time would have been spent hearing the Confessions of the sick, ministering Last Rites to the dying, and praying for the needs of the community at large. In 1291 Pope Nicholas IV granted a spiritual Indulgence to anyone who made pilgrimage to the priory on St Catherine's, St Gilbert's, and St James's feast days.

As well as the prime focus of medical, pastoral, and spiritual care the community had a number of agricultural land endowments. In 1285 a windmill was constructed next to the main priory site and in 1306 an aqueduct. By 1535, a few years before the dissolution, these included the granges or manors of Belchford, Cherry Willingham, Harmston, Long Bennington, North Hykeham, Stapleford, Saxby, and Wellingore; in Nottinghamshire, Coddington, and Yorkshire Brampton. St Katherine's also held other lands and rents in Lincolnshire, as well as gaining income from the parish churches listed above. The main product of their estates was wool with an average output of 35 sacks per year in the 14th century. In spite of the community, fairly large income compared to other Gilbertine houses, the costs of the hospital continually threatened to overwhelm income. For this reason the community had the right to send out collectors and Bishop John Dalderby granted an Indulgence for all donations to Saint Sepulchre's Hospital.

The house was dissolved on 14 July 1538, two months before the other Gilbertine houses in the county. The thirteen canons were pensioned, but the lay sisters got nothing.

The site of the priory church is now home to the parish church for the St Catherine's area of Lincoln.

Queen Eleanor of Castile

On the night of 2 December 1290 the body of Queen Eleanor of Castile, wife of King Edward the First, rested at the Priory of Saint Katherine on the first of twelve days journey to Westminster Abbey. The following year, the King had Commemorative Crosses built at each location on the journey including outside the gatehouse of St Katherine's. Eleanor's viscera were entombed at Lincoln Cathedral, so it is likely that the embalming process happened at the priory given the expertise available due to St Sepulchre's medical practice.

Priors

Related Research Articles

St. Catherine or St. Katherine may refer to a number of saints named Catherine, or:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbertine Order</span> Order founded by Gilbert of Sempringham

The Gilbertine Order of Canons Regular was founded around 1130 by Saint Gilbert in Sempringham, Lincolnshire, where Gilbert was the parish priest. It was the only completely English religious order and came to an end in the 16th century at the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Modest Gilbertine revivals have taken place in the late 20th and early 21st centuries on three continents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bracebridge Heath</span> Village and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England

Bracebridge Heath is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is 2 miles (3 km) south of Lincoln and straddles the border with the Lincoln and North Kesteven district boundaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sempringham</span> Hamlet in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England

Sempringham is a village in the civil parish of Pointon and Sempringham, in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south from the A52 road, 12 miles (19 km) east from Grantham and 8 miles (13 km) north from Bourne. The hamlet is on the western edge of the Lincolnshire Fens, the closest village being Billingborough, 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the north on the B1177 road. Sempringham is noted as the home of Gilbert of Sempringham, the son of the lord of the manor. Gilbert is the only English Saint to have founded a monastic order, the Gilbertines. In 1921 the parish had a population of 112. On 1 April 1931 the parish was abolished to form "Pointon and Sempringham".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merton Priory</span> Former priory in Merton, Surrey, England

Merton Priory was an English Augustinian priory founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under King Henry I (1100–1135). It was situated within the manor of Merton in the county of Surrey, in what is today the Colliers Wood area in the London Borough of Merton.

The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious life, such as clerics regular, designated by a partly similar terminology. As religious communities, they have laybrothers as part of the community.

A canoness is a member of a religious community of vowed women, historically a stable community dedicated to the celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours in a particular church. The name corresponds to a canon, the male equivalent, and both roles share a common historical origin. As with the canons, there are two types: canonesses regular, who follow the Rule of St Augustine, and secular canonesses, who follow no monastic rule of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bourne Abbey</span> Church in Lincolnshire, United Kingdom

Bourne Abbey and the Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a scheduled Grade I church in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. The building remains in parochial use, despite the 16th-century Dissolution, as the nave was used by the parish, probably from the time of the foundation of the abbey in 1138.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Hykeham</span> Town and civil parish in Lincolnshire, England

North Hykeham is an industrial town and civil parish in the North Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. It is located directly south of the city of Lincoln, where it forms the southern part of the wider Lincoln Urban Area along with Waddington, Bracebridge Heath, Canwick and South Hykeham. The parish covering the town had a population of 16,844 in the 2021 Census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Holgate</span> English Anglican bishop (died 1555)

Robert Holgate was Bishop of Llandaff from 1537 and then Archbishop of York. He recognised Henry VIII as head of the Church of England.

St Catherine's is an inner-city area of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England at the southern end of the High Street, and centred on a roundabout at its junction with the A15, B1190 and South Park Avenue. The area is bordered by South Common in the east and the River Witham in the west. It is built over the site of the 12th century Priory of Saint Katherine without Lincoln, a monastic community that ran the Hospital of Saint Sepulchre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A607 road</span> Road in England

The A607 is an A road in England that starts in Belgrave, Leicester and heads northeastwards through Leicestershire and the town of Grantham, Lincolnshire, terminating at Bracebridge Heath, a village on the outskirts of Lincoln. It is a primary route from Thurmaston to the A1 junction at Grantham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priory Church of St Peter, Thurgarton</span> Church in England

The Priory Church of St Peter, Thurgarton is a former house of Canons Regular or "Black Canons" and now a Church of England church in Thurgarton, Nottinghamshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirby Bellars Priory</span> Church in England

Kirby Bellars Priory was a small priory of Canons Regular of Saint Augustine in Leicestershire, England. It is now the Church of England Parish Church of Saint Peter's serving the village of Kirby Bellars.

Alvingham Priory was a Gilbertine priory in St. Mary, Alvingham, Lincolnshire, England. The Priory, established between 1148 and 1154, was a "double house", where religious of both sexes lived in two separate monasteries. They did not commonly communicate with one another, and there was an internal wall dividing their priory church. The superior of every Gilbertine house was the prioress, the prior being really an official of her house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bullington Priory</span> Priory in Bullington, Lincolnshire, England

Bullington Priory was a priory in Bullington, Lincolnshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sempringham Priory</span>

Sempringham Priory was a priory in Lincolnshire, England, located in the medieval hamlet of Sempringham, to the northwest of Pointon. Today, all that remains of the priory is a marking on the ground where the walls stood and a square, which are identifiable only in aerial photos of the vicinity. However, the parish church of St Andrew's, built around 1100 AD, is witness to the priory standing alone in a field away from the main road.

References

    Sources