Monk Bretton Priory is a ruined medieval
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 ...
located in the village of
Lundwood
Lundwood is a village in Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England.
History
Lying about three miles east-north-east of Barnsley town centre, Lundwood takes its name from the Lund Wood, the substantially wooded portion of the area of the old manor of ...
, and close to
Monk Bretton
Monk Bretton is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately two miles north-east from Barnsley town centre. Until 1974 it was in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
History
Monk Bretton has bee ...
,
South Yorkshire
South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...
, England.
History
Originally a
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
under the
Cluniac order
Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter, Saints Peter and Saint Paul, Paul.
The abbey was constructed ...
, Monk Bretton Priory is located in the village of
Lundwood
Lundwood is a village in Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England.
History
Lying about three miles east-north-east of Barnsley town centre, Lundwood takes its name from the Lund Wood, the substantially wooded portion of the area of the old manor of ...
, in the borough of
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...
,
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 ...
. It was founded in 1154 as the Priory of St. Mary Magdelene of Lund by Adam Fitswane, sited on the Lund, from
Old Norse
Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...
. In the course of time, the priory took the name of the nearby village of Bretton to be commonly known as
Monk Bretton
Monk Bretton is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately two miles north-east from Barnsley town centre. Until 1974 it was in the West Riding of Yorkshire.
History
Monk Bretton has bee ...
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
The Court of King's Bench (or Court of Queen's Bench during the reign of a Queen) was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror of the Court of King's Bench in England. The Lord Chief Justice was the most senior judge ...
, and his wife Isabel, conveyed to him lands at
Fishlake, Monk Bretton,
Moseley
Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre.
It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...
and
Woolley. The purpose of the grant was to build a
chantry
A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings:
# a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or
# a chantry chapel, a b ...
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 from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
, Queen
Philippa of Hainault
Philippa of Hainault (sometimes spelled Hainaut; Middle French: ''Philippe de Hainaut''; 24 June 1310 (or 1315) – 15 August 1369) was List of English consorts, Queen of England as the wife and political adviser of King Edward III. She acted a ...
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 was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...
.
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
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 ...
and is 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 ...
.
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
The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...
.
See also
*
Grade I listed buildings in South Yorkshire
*
Listed buildings in Monk Bretton
References
*Walker, John William ''Abstracts of the Chartularies of the Priory of Monkbretton''
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
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 1150s
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
1538 disestablishments in England
Grade I listed ruins