Greyfriars, Grayfriars or Gray Friars is a term for

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Order of Friars Minor, in particular, the

Conventual Franciscans The Order of Friars Minor Conventual (O.F.M. Conv.) is a male religious fraternity in the Catholic Church and a branch of the Franciscan Order. Conventual Franciscan Friars are identified by the affix O.F.M. Conv. after their names. They are ...

. The term often refers to buildings or districts formerly associated with the order.

Former Friaries

* Greyfriars, Bedford * Greyfriars, Beverley, Yorkshire, England *

Greyfriars, Bristol 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 includ ...

Greyfriars, Canterbury Greyfriars in Canterbury was the first Franciscan friary in England. History 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 O ...

, earliest English Franciscan friary *

Greyfriars, Coventry Greyfriars was a medieval Franciscan priory in Coventry, England. The original monastic buildings were lost in the English Reformation, Reformation; the spire standing on the site today was most recently part of a 19th-century church that was d ...

* Greyfriars, Dorchester *

Greyfriars, Dunwich 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 fir ...

, dissolved in 1538 some ruins remain as a Scheduled Ancient Monument * Greyfriars, Gloucester, the ruins of a monastery, also a street named after the same * Greyfriars, Ipswich, founded before 1236, virtually nothing remains * Greyfriars, King's Lynn, the tower survives and is a prominent local landmark *

Greyfriars, Lincoln The Greyfriars, Lincoln was a Franciscan friary in Lincolnshire, England. The surviving building is the remains of the infirmary of the friary, built of dressed stone and brick and dating from c.1230, with mid-19th-century additions. The clay t ...

, former Franciscan friary; only the infirmary now survives *

Greyfriars, Leicester 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 Dissolution of the monasteries, dissolved in 1538. Following dissolution the friary wa ...

, original burial place of Richard III of England *

Greyfriars, London 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 Shambles, St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Fran ...

GreyFriars, Newcastle-upon-Tyne GreyFriars, Newcastle-upon-Tyne was a friary in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England, which was founded in Pilgrim Street in 1237, was sold after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and then rebuilt as a private residence, as New Place a ...

, founded 1327, dissolved 1539; rebuilt as private residence, demolished 1832 *

Greyfriars, Nottingham 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 Broadmar ...

, founded 1224–1230, dissolved in 1539; nothing remains of the friary *

Greyfriars, Perth The Observant Order of Greyfriars"Perth, Ca ...

* Greyfriars, Richmond * Greyfriars, Shrewsbury * Greyfriars, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland *

Greyfriars, Stamford 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 ...

Greyfriars, Winchelsea Greyfriars is a country estate in Winchelsea, East Sussex, England. It contains a ruined medieval monastery and church and a 19th-century house. History A house for the Order of Friars Minor was established in Winchelsea Old Town by 1242. The fr ...

Greyfriars, Worcester Greyfriars, Worcester is a Grade I listed building in Worcester, England. Its location near to a former friary of the Franciscan order of Greyfriars has in the past led to speculation that it was constructed as their guest house, but it is now ...

Greyfriars Monastery, Stockholm The Greyfriars Monastery ( Swedish: ''Gråmunkeklostret'') on the island of Riddarholmen in Stockholm was a monastery for males of the Franciscan Order, in operation from 1270 until the Swedish Reformation of 1527. History The monastery was found ...

Churches

Christ Church Greyfriars Christ Church Greyfriars, also known as Christ Church Newgate Street, was a church in Newgate Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Established as a monastic church in the thirteenth century, it became a parish church afte ...

, in London *

Greyfriars Church, Reading 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. It is the oldest Franciscan ...

Greyfriars Kirk Greyfriars Kirk () is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, located in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is surrounded by Greyfriars Kirkyard. Greyfriars traces its origin to the south-west parish of Edinburgh, f ...

, Edinburgh

Other

* Grey Friars F.C., former football club, c.1870-1880 *

Greyfriars, Bristol (office block) Greyfriars is the alternate name of a fourteen-story office block built in 1974 in Lewin's Mead in Bristol. It was later used for government offices. The building takes its name from Greyfriars, a medieval Franciscan friary A monastery is a ...

Greyfriars Bobby Greyfriars Bobby (4 May 1855 – 14 January 1872) was a Skye Terrier or Dandie Dinmont Terrier who became known in 19th-century Edinburgh for spending 14 years guarding the grave of his owner until his death on 14 January 1872. The story conti ...

, a renowned Edinburgh dog *

Greyfriars bus station Greyfriars bus station was a bus station which formerly served the town of Northampton, England. It was owned and managed by Northampton Borough Council. The station was situated in Northampton town centre between Greyfriars (street) and Lady' ...

, former bus station in Northampton *

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...

, a graveyard in Edinburgh *

Greyfriars, Oxford 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 ...

, a former Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford *

Greyfriars, Preston Greyfriars is a largely residential suburban area of Preston, Lancashire, England, and an Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward. It is nowadays usually considered to be a district of the larger suburb of Fulwood, Lancashire, Fulwood (and f ...

, an electoral ward in Lancashire * Greyfriars, Wanborough, a house in Surrey, England *

, a Grade I listed building in Worcester, England

In fiction

Greyfriars School Greyfriars School is a fictional English public school used as a setting in the long-running series of stories by the writer Charles Hamilton, who wrote under the pen-name of Frank Richards. Although the stories are focused on the Remove (or l ...

, a fictional school which is the setting for Frank Richards' ''Billy Bunter'' stories {{disambig