♫ Claire ♫
Ruins of the West Tower, Walsingham Abbey
The Monastery at Walsingham was always a Priory. But in the late 17th or early 18th century the large house on the site, which had started life as the prior’s house but by then had become a mansion, became known as ‘The Abbey’.
The house is still called the Abbey and is privately occupied, but the surrounding grounds are open to the public. They contain the ruins of the Augustinian Priory of The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the premier shrines to Our Lady in England, up to its dissolution in 1538. The Priory was founded c.1153, adjacent to the site where Richeldis de Faverches built the replica of the Holy House following her visions in 1061.
Little remains of the original buildings which were altered in the 13th and 14th centuries, but the most striking feature is the magnificent East Window which gives some indication of the size and importance of the Priory Church (244ft long with both central and western towers).
The Refectory has a fine Early Decorated west window (c1300) and stairs in the wall leading up to the pulpit from which canons were read to during meals. The crypt or warming room has a vaulted ceiling and filled in fireplace clearly visible.
Ruins of the West Tower, Walsingham Abbey
The Monastery at Walsingham was always a Priory. But in the late 17th or early 18th century the large house on the site, which had started life as the prior’s house but by then had become a mansion, became known as ‘The Abbey’.
The house is still called the Abbey and is privately occupied, but the surrounding grounds are open to the public. They contain the ruins of the Augustinian Priory of The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of the premier shrines to Our Lady in England, up to its dissolution in 1538. The Priory was founded c.1153, adjacent to the site where Richeldis de Faverches built the replica of the Holy House following her visions in 1061.
Little remains of the original buildings which were altered in the 13th and 14th centuries, but the most striking feature is the magnificent East Window which gives some indication of the size and importance of the Priory Church (244ft long with both central and western towers).
The Refectory has a fine Early Decorated west window (c1300) and stairs in the wall leading up to the pulpit from which canons were read to during meals. The crypt or warming room has a vaulted ceiling and filled in fireplace clearly visible.