Brinkburn Priory

Denomination: Church of England.

Status: Parish Church and former Augustinian priory. Diocese of Newcastle.

Visited by: Bruce and Elspeth Lindsay; Lorna Macpherson; Barbara, Deepak and Arun Uttamchandani.

Date of visit: 4 July 2018. (Text by Bruce).

Brinkburn Priory, originally a house for Augustinian canons, lies in woodland within a loop on the River Coquet. Construction of the church, the only complete surviving building of the monastery, began about fifty years after the priory’s foundation in 1135. After the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s, the church was used as the parish church. Other parts of the monastic buildings were adapted to form an elegant manor house which remained a family home until 1953. The condition of the church deteriorated rapidly, but after years of neglect it was reroofed and restored in the mid-nineteenth century. Brinkburn is still used for a variety of Christian services, including the annual Ascension Day service, weddings, concerts, and other events such as activity weeks for schools. Since 1891 Brinkburn has been part of the Anglican parish of Longframlington with Brinkburn but the site is now in the care of English Heritage.

Two events of our visit to Brinkburn stand out in my memory. The first was the warm welcome extended by a very pleasant lady representing English Heritage. She explained the history and significance of the site and sensing my interest in church history went into some detail. This left me well prepared for what I was about to see. She commented on how the Scots had attacked the monastery and caused great damage in 1315. I could only apologise for such bad manners!

The second fond memory is of Arun’s singing. He stood on the steps at the front of the presbytery and sang a piece from his repertoire of sacred music. It was a beautiful sound, much enhanced by the superb natural acoustics of the building. As is evident from the picture, the stained glass is a feature of the church and at the time of our visit admitted a soft light which shone beautifully on the altar.