Isleham Priory Church, located in

Isleham Isleham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It is part of the Fens. It has three pubs. Geography Isleham is located in the Fens of south-east Cambridgeshire. The western parish boundary is formed by the Cro ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, is a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

alien priory Alien priories were religious establishments in England, such as monasteries and convents, which were under the control of another religious house outside England. Usually the Motherhouse, mother-house was in France.Coredon ''Dictionary of Mediev ...

built around 1100 AD. It is an important example of an early 12th-century

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...

church. Despite being converted into a barn after the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, the building remains mostly in its original state. The church is designated a

Grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

. The structure and surrounding area are also designated a scheduled

Ancient Monument An ancient monument can refer to any early or historical manmade structure or architecture. Certain ancient monuments are of cultural importance for nations and become symbols of international recognition, including the Baalbek, ruins of Baalbek ...

Description

The Priory is located north of the village of

in Cambridgeshire, England. The Chapel of St Margaret of Antioch, converted to a barn at a later date, is the only surviving building in the priory complex. 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. The church was built with local

clunch Clunch is a traditional building material of chalky limestone rock used mainly in eastern England and Normandy. Clunch distinguishes itself from archetypal forms of limestone by being softer in character when cut, and may resemble chalk in lowe ...

rubble and

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. 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. The chapel was converted to a barn after the

. 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. The chapel is in length and consists of a nave and chancel with an

apsidal In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In Byzant ...

sanctuary at the east end. The nave with two bays measures about by and is 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 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.

History

The Church of St Margaret of Antioch, the main surviving part of the Priory, was given to the

Abbey of

Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer (, literally ''Saint-Jacut of the Sea''; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor département of Brittany in northwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer are called ''jaguens'' (masculine) and ''jagu ...

in Brittany, France around 1100 by Count Alan of Brittany or his successors, and the Benedictines founded the

on the site. In 1254 the monks moved to the sister cell at Linton in southern Cambridgeshire, although the site seems to have been used as a priory after that time. Due to the tensions of a French-owned monastery in England during the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...

, the lands were seized by King

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1216–1281 ...

in 1414 and granted to the Master and Fellows of

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 students and fellows. It is one of the university's larger colleges, with buildings from ...

in 1440. In 1944 Pembroke College placed the Priory in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works. It is a

, and now in the care of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

. The foundations of the conventual buildings and the earthworks in the surrounding land were designated a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

in 1996.

References

{{Coord, 52.34265, 0.40974, format=dms, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title

English Heritage sites in Cambridgeshire Alien priories in England 11th-century establishments in England Monasteries in Cambridgeshire Christian monasteries established in the 1100s Scheduled monuments in Cambridgeshire Grade I listed churches in Cambridgeshire Priory Church

Description

History

See also

References