Cranborne Priory facts for kids

The surviving priory church, St Mary and St Bartholomew

Cranborne Priory was an old religious building in Cranborne, a village in Dorset, England. Today, the church that was once part of the priory is still standing. It's called the Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew. This church is a very important historical building, known as a Grade I listed building, and some parts of it are over 900 years old!

A Look Back in Time

How Cranborne Priory Started

People believe that Cranborne Priory began as a larger religious house, called an abbey, for Benedictine monks around the year 980. A knight named Haylward Snew (also known as Aethelweard Maew) is said to have founded it. It was even the main house for Tewkesbury Abbey for a while.

In 1086, the Domesday Book, a famous old record, showed that the abbey owned land in places like Ashton Keynes and Damerham.

Changing to a Priory

In 1102, a powerful person named Robert Fitzhamon made the church at Tewkesbury much bigger. He moved most of the monks from Cranborne to Tewkesbury. This meant Cranborne changed from a big abbey to a smaller priory. Only a prior (the leader) and two monks stayed there. From then on, Cranborne Priory was under the control of Tewkesbury Abbey. It stayed this way until 1540. At that time, many monasteries in England were closed down by the king.

The other buildings of the priory, besides the church, were taken down in 1703. Luckily, the beautiful priory church of St Mary and St Bartholomew survived. It is still used today as the main church for the village of Cranborne.

Exploring the Church

A Special Old Building

The Church of St Mary and St Bartholomew is a Grade I listed building. This means it's considered a very important historical and architectural site. It got this special status on March 18, 1955.

The oldest parts of the church are from the 1100s. These include a doorway on the north side and some parts of the arches on the south side. Most of the church, including the main area (called the nave) and the side sections (aisles), was built in the 1300s.

What the Church Looks Like

The church is built from flint and rough stone, with smoother stone details. Its roof is made of tiles and lead. There's a tall tower at the west end of the church and a porch on the north side.

Inside, you can see some amazing features:

• Roofs: The ceilings are curved and plastered, dating from the 1400s.
• Wall Paintings: There are old paintings on the walls from the 1300s.
• Pulpit: The pulpit, where sermons are given, is made of oak and is from the 1300s or 1400s.
• Font: The font, used for baptisms, is from the 1200s and has an eight-sided bowl.
• Monuments: You'll find several old monuments inside the church.
• Easter Sepulchre: A special space in the north chancel wall might have been used as an Easter Sepulchre, a place to represent Jesus's tomb during Easter.

Images for kids

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  The 75 feet high west tower, floodlit by night

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  Nave, looking west

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  The 12th-century Purbeck font

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  The oldest part of the present building, the c.1120 Norman doorway in the north porch.

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  Medieval pulpit (c.1440)

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  Hooper family monument

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  Monument to John Elliott

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  Chancel arch and painting of the twelve apostles.

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  Funeral hatchments in the tower

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  West Window (1885).

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  Organ

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  Jacobean tomb, south aisle.

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  Nave, looking east