Monk Bretton Priory

Join the Mocke/Martorelli family having a look at the fascinating Monk Bretton Priory. Tucked away at the edge of an industrial zone and housing estate in Barnsley (South Yorkshire), are the ruins of one of the victims of Henry VIII’s acts of Catholic Suppression. Built almost 900 years ago, this priory has certainly seen its fair share of conflict. Much of the charm of the medieval site lies in its tranquillity and lack of other tourists. MONK BRETTON PRIORY December 2020 Reasons for the Designation of a Monastery Here From the time of St Augustine's mission to re-establish Christianity in AD 597 to the reign of Henry VIII, monasticism formed an important facet of both religious and secular life in the British Isles. Settlements of religious communities, including monasteries, were built to house communities of monks, canons (priests), and sometimes lay-brothers, living a common life of religious observance under some form of systematic discipline. It is estimated that over 700 monasteries were founded in England. These ranged in size from major communities with several hundred members to tiny establishments with a handful of brethren. They belonged to a wide variety of different religious orders, each with its own philosophy. As a result, they vary considerably in the detail of their appearance and layout, although all possess the basic elements of church, domestic accommodation for the community, and work buildings. Monasteries were inextricably woven into the fabric of medieval society, acting not only as centres of worship, learning and charity but also, because of the vast landholdings of some orders, as centres of immense wealth and political influence. They were established in all parts of England, some in towns and others in the remotest of areas. Many monasteries acted as the foci of wide networks including parish churches, alms-houses, hospitals, farming estates and tenant villages. The Cluniac order had its origins in the monastic reformations which swept across continental Europe in the tenth century. The reformations which occurred were partly a response to the impact of Viking raids and attacks on established monastic sites in the preceding century but were also a reaction against the corruption and excesses which were increasingly noted amongst earlier establishments. The Cluniacs were amongst the most successful of the new reformed orders that developed. The founding house of Cluny in south-east France was established in AD 910. Here the community obeyed a stringent set of rules which, amongst other things, involved celibacy, communal living, and abstention from eating meat. The ideals of the Cluniac reformers passed on to England in the tenth century. Influential Cluniac houses had been established in England by 1077. Once established, Cluniac houses were notable for the strong links they maintained both with the founding house of Cluny in France and with other houses of their order. Most Cluniac houses in England were established near major towns and they particularly sought locations in valley bottoms within the protection of a nearby castle. They are relatively rare, with some forty-four known in England. Monk Bretton Priory 1. Gatehouse 8 7 2. Administrative building 3. Church 9 a. Nave 8 6 4 b. Presbytery 10 c. North transept 11 4. Prior’s range 5. Cloister 12 5 6. Refectory 13 3a 7. Kitchen 1 8. Dormitory 9. Guest house 3c 10. Reredorter 3b 11. Early warming house 3 12. Chapter house 13. Infirmary 1 2 A reconstruction of Monk Bretton Priory showing the main buildings viewed from the south-west in about 1380. Founded in the 1150s, the Monk Bretton Priory was part of the powerful French order of Cluny. In approximately 1094, Lord Robert de Lacy of Pontefract Castle, set up a priory of Cluniac monks – St John’s at Pontefract. These monks came from the great Cluniac motherhouse at La Charite-sur- Loire in France. By founding a priory, Robert was ensuring that his and his family’s souls were saved through daily prayers said by the monks. Sixty years later, Adam Fitzswaine, a local landowner whose grandfather had been a tenant of the de Lacy’s, set up his Cluniac priory here at “Lund” (or Bretton). It was named as the Priory of Saint Mary Magdalene and was staffed by monks from the Cluniac priory of St John at Pontefract, of which his father had been a notable benefactor. The Pontefract monks later claimed full jurisdiction over the Monk Bretton Priory. This conflict caused relations between the two monasteries to become strained, and regular disagreement over who had ultimate control of the Priory led to armed conflict on occasion. Things came to a head in 1252 when the Prior of Pontefract appointed Adam de Northampton to be the new Prior of Monk Bretton. The monks refused to accept the new man, insisting that they had the right to elect whomsoever they chose to the post. In 1255, Pope Alexander IV ordered the Dean and Archdeacon of Lincoln to arbitrate the dispute. A compromise was reached in 1269 allowing the monks to elect their own prior, but the elected man had to be confirmed by the Prior of Pontefract. Monk Bretton also had to pay a yearly fee of 20 shillings. A fascinating episode followed in 1279 when the Abbot of Cluny ordered a visitation of all English monasteries following the Cluniac way of life. When the visitors arrived at Monk Bretton, they were refused entrance. They complained to the king, who supported their case and returned with a bailiff and sheriff's officers. They entered the chapter house, expecting the monks to attend them, but no monks appeared. They said they had no intention of attending the Cluniac visitors without their prior, who was away. The exasperated Cluniacs promptly excommunicated the entire community. Given the rocky relationship between the priory’s monks and the Cluniac order, it comes as no surprise that in early 1281 the Priory left the Cluniacs and joined the Benedictine order. That did not stop the Cluniacs from trying to re-assert authority over Monk Bretton in 1289, but that effort came to nothing. Monk Bretton did, however, continue to pay 20 shillings every year to Pontefract Priory until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Apart from a disastrous fire in 1386, its history was largely uneventful. Gradually the name of the priory was replaced by that of the nearby village of Bretton to be commonly known as Monk Bretton Priory. The priory owned properties across South Yorkshire, with rights over five parish churches, and worked coal and ironstone in the Barnsley area. When Monk Bretton was suppressed by Henry VIII in 1539 there was 13 monks’ resident under a prior. All received pensions including Prior William Browne, who received a considerable sum of £40 per year. After 1538 the priory was plundered for usable building materials, the north aisle of the church was dismantled and reconstructed as the parish church of Wentworth, only to be demolished in the late 18th century. In 1589 the estate was bought by William Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, and the west range of the cloister was converted into a country house for his son Henry. The priory site changed hands several times over later centuries, before being placed in state guardianship in 1932. The site is now in the care of English Heritage. The Monk Bretton Priory was a seven-acre enclosure and in addition to the monastic buildings contained a meadow, orchard, fishponds, and the monks’ cemetery. Priory Church Little remains of the church, although there are several particularly fine examples of medieval grave slabs. Some of these still retain lead lettering set into the stone; others are decorated with beautifully incised crosses. The church was started soon after the foundation of the priory, probably in the late 1150s, but it was not completed until the 14th century. It was about 60m long. The nave was a wide structure stretching from these west doorsteps to the four columns that held up a bell tower over the crossing. It had a flagstone floor and stone benches along its west and north walls, most likely seating for tired worshippers. Along the north and south nave walls were two side aisles, about 3m wide. Each was made by an arcade of four arches on piers that ran from their west wall buttress to the bell tower and held up a clerestory – a row of high windows. On the south side are some stones from later, private chapels built into these aisles. Adam Fitzswaine and other high-ranking monks were buried inside the church naïve. Several grave covers have survived although they are not in their original positions. The remains of the church looking east. Grave cover Presbytery At the east end of the church was the presbytery, which was extended shortly after the church was built. A raised platform with the high altar was where the monks said mass. North and south of the crossing were the transepts, giving the church its cross shape. Each transept gave access to two private chapels on the eastern side. A doorway from the north transept led to the monks’ cemetery. In the south transept, there were the night stairs, by which the monks came down from their dormitory for services during the night. There was also an arched window that became a book cupboard, and a newel stair that reached the roof spaces. The Cloister On the south side of the church was an enclosed square, or court, known as a cloister. The cloister buildings are better preserved than the other buildings. The cloister on the side of the church was surrounded by four covered walks linking various, better preserved, domestic buildings used by the monks.

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