Woodspring Priory

The Priory 

Woodspring Priory (Source: Landmark Trust)

 Woodspring Priory (or Worspring as it was referred to in Middle English at the time) was founded on the site, some three miles away from the River Severn Estuary in the early 13th Century, dedicated to Thomas Becket. It was commissioned by William de Courtenay, who was a grandson of Reginald Fitz-Urse, one of Thomas Becket's assassins, and he ensured that tithe collections from his Manorial Lands at Woodspring, Locking and Worle sent some of the tithe to the Priory to help fund it and support it. The site was even dedicated to St Thomas, who appears on its seal.

St Thomas Becket
(Source: historyorb.com)

The Priory was home to a small group of Victorine Canons. The Victorine Order was established in 1109AD by the scholar William de Champeaux, former Archdeacon of Paris, France. Shortly after the order was established a Canon requested a school to be built in his monastery at St Victor, hence how the Order gained its name. The school drew students from all over Paris and beyond, and such was its good name and reputation that Houses all across France dedicated to the Order were soon built. Within 40 years or so of its inception, the Order boasted forty four houses, and by the early 16th Century they could boast nearly 100 Abbeys and Monasteries in France alone, one such Abbey was the Abbey of St Augustine in Bristol, which Woodspring Priory was allied to.

The site at Woodspring suited the monks as their Order decreed a simpler life, where the buildings would be placed in the remoter parts of the area, dedicated to manual,

Arial View of Site
(Source: Landmark Trust)

agricultural labour. Wherever you found one of their buildings, it was usually part of a larger farm, as can be seen at Woodspring Priory. The site never was grand or excessively wealthy, and it is believed that the maximum amount of Monks serving there never reached past 10 at any one time. The quality of the buildings at the time was never excessive or fashionable, just adequate to perform its duties. It wasn't until later in its history did it acquire the fine tower on the chapel and large housing.

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII in 1536, the priory was converted into a farmhouse which can still be seen today. It has been converted into holiday accommodation owned and run by The Landmark Trust, and has been given Grade 1 listed status by English Heritage. There is a small museum on the site which gives photographs of the site before the restoration and gives more information about its past.

View of the fine ceiling in the chapel
(Source: Landmark Trust)

Interior view of the converted rooms of the Priory
(Source: Landmark Trust)

The 15th Century barn, east cloister wall, farmhouse range, gatehouse, gates, mounting block, infirmary and west wall have also all been given listed buildings status.

View of the Buildings
(Source: Landmark Trust)

View of Buildings
(Source: Landmark Trust)

It is our personal belief that the Order chose Woodspring as its home due to the proximity of the Abbey in Bristol and a Holy site at Glastonbury, where the Tor is supposedly home to a Holy relic, the Glastonbury Thorn, which is a Hawthorn Bush said to have sprung from the staff of John the Apostle himself on his visit to England. This thorn is very rare in the fact that it flowers at Easter as is the norm for this bush, but also at Christmas - thus making the pilgrims believe it is symbolic of Christ's birth and death

The Glastonbury Thorn
(Source: Wikipedia)