Isleham Priory Church facts for kids
Isleham Priory Church is a very old church in Isleham, Cambridgeshire, England. It was built around 1100 AD by Benedictine monks. This church is a great example of Norman architecture from the early 12th century. Even though it was turned into a barn a long time ago, it still looks much like it did when it was first built. Today, it's a special Grade I listed building and a Scheduled monument, which means it's protected because of its history.
What Does It Look Like?
Isleham Priory Church is found north of Isleham village in Cambridgeshire. The building you see today is the Chapel of St Margaret of Antioch. It was later changed into a barn. This chapel is the only building left from the original priory complex. Under the ground, there are also foundations of other priory buildings. You can also see old earthworks from a medieval farm area north of the church.
The church was built using local clunch rubble and limestone. Clunch is a type of soft chalky stone. The building is mostly unchanged since 1100 AD. Only small repairs were done in the 1200s and early 1300s. More changes happened after it became a barn in the 1500s or 1600s. A wall made of clunch and brick surrounds the area north of the chapel. This wall was built later but follows the same boundary as the original priory. This enclosed area might also be where the monks were buried.
After the Reformation, the chapel was turned into a barn. In the 1500s or early 1600s, a large barn door was put in. It had a brick arch and replaced an older chapel door. People believe the roof was made taller about a hundred years after that.
The chapel is about 30 meters (98 feet) long. It has a nave (the main part where people sit) and a chancel (the area near the altar). At the east end, there's an apsidal sanctuary, which is a rounded or curved part. The nave is about 8 meters (26 feet) wide and 14 meters (46 feet) long. It is about 6 meters (20 feet) high. The north wall has two original narrow windows with rounded tops. The south and west walls also have these original narrow windows. A semicircular arch with two columns separates the nave from the chancel. The sanctuary is about 6 meters (20 feet) long and is as wide as the chancel. The apse has three windows, but only the one on the east wall is original.
A Look Back in Time
The Church of St Margaret of Antioch is the main part of the Priory that still stands. Around 1100, it was given to the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer in France. This was done by Count Alan of Brittany or his family. The Benedictine monks then started an alien priory here. An "alien priory" was a monastery in England that was controlled by a foreign abbey, usually in France.
In 1254, the monks moved to a sister monastery in Linton. However, the site at Isleham seems to have been used as a priory even after they moved.
During the Hundred Years' War, there was a lot of tension between England and France. Because this monastery was owned by a French abbey, the King of England took its lands in 1414. In 1440, the lands were given to Pembroke College, Cambridge.
In 1944, Pembroke College put the church under the care of the Ministry of Works. Today, it is looked after by English Heritage. It is a Grade I listed building, which means it's a very important historic building. The old foundations of the other monastery buildings and the earthworks around them were named a scheduled monument in 1996. This means they are protected because of their historical importance.
See also
- Denny Abbey, another Cambridgeshire priory once owned by Pembroke College, Cambridge
- Scheduled monuments in Cambridgeshire
- List of monastic houses in England
