Leominster Priory

There may well have been earlier religious houses on this site, and there was certainly a nunnery in the 9th century which was dissolved in 1046, but the beautiful red sandstone church as seen today is all that remains of the 12th century Benedictine monastery. Henry I gave the manor of Leominster to Reading Abbey in 1123, and soon after a priory was founded as a cell of Reading. Leominster Priory became a very wealthy house and, as such, managed to survive the suppression until 1539.

Following the Dissolution, the Lady Chapel, the east end of the priory church, and the transepts were all destroyed, together with most of the monastic buildings. Only the nave remained, serving the local parishioners as it had always done. But what a splendid remainder this is. Essentially the church consists of three parallel naves, and an additional aisle that makes the building almost as wide as it is long. Stumpy cylindrical columns punctuate the north arcade, with triforium and clerestory above. An original feast of Norman simplicity. In complete contrast, the south aisle is a wonderful combination of fine Decorated and elegant Perpendicular work, completed during late 13th/early 14th centuries. A section of arcade between the nave and the south aisle had to be rebuilt after being seriously damaged by fire in 1699. This was again altered at the time of the great Victorian restoration under Sir Gilbert Scott.

Leominster Priory is situated on the outskirts of the town, and the beauty of its architecture is enhanced by its semi-rural setting. A first quick glance may give the unsuspecting visitor the impression that it is a lovely old house surrounded by landscaped parkland, but closer inspection will show the skills of those early ecclesiastical builders. The Norman west tower, below which is a richly moulded doorway, each pillar topped by an elaborately carved Romanesque capital and frieze. Looking up at the south elevation, five windows filled with exquisite tracery have survived remarkably well. Window tracery was a standard trademark of the Decorated period, but such fine examples are now rare.