Monk Bretton Priory is a ruined medieval
priory located in the village of
Lundwood, and close to
Monk Bretton,
South Yorkshire, England.
History
Originally a
monastery under the
Cluniac order, Monk Bretton Priory is located in the village of
Lundwood, in the borough of
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
,
England. It was founded in 1154 as the Priory of St. Mary Magdelene of Lund by Adam Fitswane, sited on the Lund, from
Old Norse. In the course of time, the priory took the name of the nearby village of Bretton to be commonly known as
Monk Bretton Priory.
The Notton bequest
John de Birthwaite was Prior of Monk Bretton in 1350. In that year Sir
William de Notton, a powerful local landowner, who was later
Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and his wife Isabel, conveyed to him lands at
Fishlake, Monk Bretton,
Moseley and
Woolley. The purpose of the grant was to build a
chantry chapel at
Woolley Church. Notton directed that prayers were to be said for the souls of himself, Isabel, their children, and also King
Edward III
Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring r ...
, Queen
Philippa of Hainault and their children. The date suggests that Notton made the grant as his way of giving thanks for England's deliverance from the first outbreak of the
Black Death
The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...
.
Dissolution
The monastery closed on 30 November 1538 during the
dissolution, and the site passed into the ownership of the Blithman family. In 1580 the land was again sold to
George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury who gave the estate to his fourth son Henry on his marriage to Elizabeth Rayner. The site is a
Scheduled Ancient Monument and is now in the care of
English Heritage.
Excavations concentrating on the church and cloister took place on the site in the 1920s which were published by the
Yorkshire Archaeological Society and other largely unrecorded diggings by the
Ministry of Works took place during the 1950s. More recently the site has been the focus of a survey and excavation project run by
Dr Hugh Willmott from the
University of Sheffield.
See also
*
Grade I listed buildings in South Yorkshire
There are 62 Grade I listed buildings in South Yorkshire, England. In the United Kingdom, the term listed building refers to a building or other structure officially designated as being of special architectural, historical or cultural signific ...
*
Listed buildings in Monk Bretton
References
*Walker, John William ''Abstracts of the Chartularies of the Priory of Monkbretton''
Cambridge University Press reissue 2013
External links
Recent excavations on the site by The University of SheffieldEnglish Heritage website - visitor information
*
{{Trans Pennine Trail
Christian monasteries established in the 12th century
Grade I listed monasteries
Grade I listed churches in South Yorkshire
Monasteries in South Yorkshire
Cluniac monasteries in England
1154 establishments in England
Churches in South Yorkshire
Buildings and structures in Barnsley
Tourist attractions in Barnsley
English Heritage sites in South Yorkshire
Ruins in South Yorkshire
Scheduled monuments in South Yorkshire
Religious organizations established in the 1150s
1538 disestablishments in England
Grade I listed ruins