Much Wenlock Priory

Wenlock Priory, the Priory of St Milburga, is a Grade I ruin of a Cluniac monastery on the edge of Much Wenlock, Shropshire, in the care of English Heritage.

Overview

Historic England lists ruins finally refounded about 1080 as a Cluniac house. Exposed foundations show much of the original plan. Of the thirteenth-century church there remain fragments of the west front, three west bays of the south nave aisle with an intact chamber above, three bays of the north transept and a substantial piece of the south transept. The east claustral range retains a vaulted chamber and the three-arched entrance to the chapter house, roofless, with late twelfth-century arcading. The cloister garth holds remains of a late twelfth-century octagonal lavatorium.

English Heritage records an Anglo-Saxon monastery founded about 680 for King Merewalh’s daughter St Milburga, destroyed in the ninth century and refounded by Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, between 1080 and 1082 with monks from La Charité-sur-Loire. Heritage Gateway notes the church roof under construction in 1232 and a Lady Chapel added in the first half of the fourteenth century. The community surrendered on 26 January 1540.

Further Information

• Historic England list entry 1294473
• English Heritage: Wenlock Priory
• English Heritage: History of Wenlock Priory