Kersey Priory was a

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...

in Kersey,

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, England. It was founded before 1218 by Thomas de Burgh,

Castellan A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...

of Norwich, and brother of

Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent ( , ; – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England (1215–1232) and Justiciar of Ireland (1232) during the reigns of King John and his son and successor King Henry I ...

, as a hospital dedicated to St Mary the Blessed Virgin and St

Anthony the Abbot Anthony the Great (; ; ; ; – 17 January 356) was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony, such as , by various epithets: , , , , , and . For his importance among t ...

until it was later converted into a monastery for a community of

Austin Canons The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into religious orders, differing from both secular canons and other forms of religious ...

. The hospital itself became the house of the

prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...

. The priory was dissolved in 1443 and the next year ownership of the property was granted to

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

. Kersey Priory is a scheduled monument. The house on the site called "The Priory" became a

Grade II 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, H ...

on 23 January 1958, part of the priory kitchen is said to be incorporated in the house.

Seal

The twelfth-century seal of Kersey Priory is a pointed oval bearing a bust of the Blessed Virgin crowned in clouds, below is the head of St. Anthony between them is a sun and crescent moon. It has the legend round the edge of ‘Sigill' sce Marie et sci Antonii de Kerseia’

Priors of Kersey

*Richard Waleys, died 1331 *Robert de Akenham, elected 1331 *John Calle, resigned 1387 *John de Polstede, elected 1387 *John Buche, elected 1394 *John Dewche, elected 1411 *Nicholas Bungaye, resigned 1422 *Richard Fyn, elected 1422 *John Duch, elected 1431 *William Woodbridge, elected 1432

Dissolution

When King's College took over the Manor property, the village church tower was completed and the building enlarged to compensate for the loss of the Priory church. Today the Priory chapel is a ruin situated on private property next to a medieval farmhouse. The walls of the chapel were 49 ft long and there were two 11 ft wide bays with arches. The arch from transept to choir was 10 feet wide and the transept 21 feet long.

References

External links

* Monasteries in Suffolk Scheduled monuments in Suffolk Grade II listed houses Priory, The Kersey, Suffolk {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub