Isleham Priory Church
Isleham Priory Church,located inIsleham,Cambridgeshire,England,is aBenedictinealien priorybuilt around 1100 AD. It is an important example of an early 12th-centuryNormanchurch. Despite being converted into a barn after theReformation,the building remains mostly in its original state. The church is designated aGrade I listed building.The structure and surrounding area are also designated ascheduledAncient Monument.
Description
[edit]The Priory is located north of the village ofIslehamin Cambridgeshire, England. The Chapel ofSt Margaret of Antioch,converted to a barn at a later date, is the only surviving building in the priory complex.[1]The site also includes the buried foundations of other priory buildings, as well as the earthwork remains of a medieval agricultural complex to the north of the church.[2]
The church was built with localclunchrubble andlimestone.The building is mostly unaltered since 1100 AD, except for minor repairs done in the 13th and early 14th centuries and after the barn conversion in the 16th or 17th centuries. The area north of the chapel is enclosed by a clunch and brick wall, which was built later than the priory but represents the same boundary that previously enclosed the priory buildings. This enclosed area may also contain the monks' cemetery.[3]The chapel was converted to a barn after theReformation.In the 16th or early 17th century, a large barn door with a brick round-headed arch replaced an earlier chapel door in the same location. The roofline is believed to have been raised a century later.[3]
The chapel is 30 m (98 ft) in length and consists of a nave and chancel with anapsidalsanctuary at the east end. The nave with two bays measures about 8 m (26 ft) by 14 m (46 ft) and is 6 m (20 ft) in height. The north wall contains two original narrow slit windows, each with rounded heads. The south and west walls also contain the original narrow slit windows. The nave is separated from the chancel by a semicircular arch of two columns. The sanctuary is approximately 6 m (20 ft) in length and is similar in width as the chancel. The apse contains three windows, of which the only original window is on the east wall.[2]
History
[edit]The Church of St Margaret of Antioch, the main surviving part of the Priory, was given to theBenedictineAbbey ofSaint-Jacut-de-la-Merin Brittany, France around 1100 byCount Alan of Brittanyor his successors, and the Benedictines founded thealien prioryon the site. In 1254 the monks moved to the sister cell atLintonin southern Cambridgeshire, although the site seems to have been used as a priory after that time.[1][2]
Due to the tensions of a French-owned monastery in England during theHundred Years' War,the lands were seized by KingHenry Vin 1414 and granted to the Master and Fellows ofPembroke College, Cambridgein 1440.[2]In 1944 Pembroke College placed the Priory in the guardianship of theMinistry of Works.It is aGrade I listed building,[4]and now in the care ofEnglish Heritage.The foundations of the conventual buildings and the earthworks in the surrounding land were designated ascheduled monumentin 1996.[2]
See also
[edit]- Denny Abbey,another Cambridgeshire priory possessed byPembroke College, Cambridge
- Scheduled monuments in Cambridgeshire
- List of monastic houses in England
References
[edit]- ^ab"Isleham Priory Church".English Heritage.Retrieved28 January2023.
- ^abcdeHistoric England."Monument No. 377667".Research records (formerly PastScape).Retrieved5 October2015.
- ^abHistoric England."Isleham priory: an alien Benedictine priory 100m west of St Andrew's Church (1013278)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved27 January2023.
- ^Historic England."Priory Church of St Margaret of Antioch (1126476)".National Heritage List for England.Retrieved3 January2014.