Clare Priory is a religious house in England, originally established in 1248 as the first house of the

Augustinian Friars The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

in England. It is situated on the banks of the River Stour, a short distance away from the medieval village of Clare, Suffolk. The friary was suppressed in 1538 and the property passed through many hands until it was again purchased by the

Augustinian friars The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

in 1953. Today the Priory offers modern retreat facilities for guests.

History

Clare Priory was established 1248 by

Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester, 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, 8th Lord of Clare (4 August 1222 – 14 July 1262) was the son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and Isabel Marshal.History of Tewkesbury by James Be ...

, as a friary for the

Order of St Augustine The Order of Saint Augustine, ( la, Ordo Fratrum Sancti Augustini) abbreviated OSA, is a religious mendicant order of the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1244 by bringing together several eremitical groups in the Tuscany region who were fo ...

and a cell of

Bec Abbey Bec Abbey, formally the Abbey of Our Lady of Bec (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame du Bec), is a Benedictine monastic foundation in the Eure ''département'', in the Bec valley midway between the cities of Rouen and Bernay. It is located in Le Bec Hello ...

, Normandy. It was the first house of the Augustinian Friars in England. In 1326,

Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...

reconstituted it as a cell of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. By the 14th century the Augustinian order had had over 800 friars in England and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, but these priories had declined (for other reasons) to around 300 friars before the

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

laws of the Reformation Parliament and the

Act of Supremacy The Acts of Supremacy are two acts passed by the Parliament of England in the 16th century that established the English monarchs as the head of the Church of England; two similar laws were passed by the Parliament of Ireland establishing the Eng ...

. Clare was one of the first English monastic houses suppressed in 1538 in the Dissolution of the Monasteries during the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

. The partial

list of monasteries dissolved by Henry VIII of England These monasteries were dissolved by King Henry VIII of England in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The list is by no means exhaustive, since over 800 religious houses existed before the Reformation, and virtually every town, of any size, had ...

alone includes 18 Augustinian houses such as

Bourne Abbey Bourne Abbey and the Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul is a scheduled Grade I church in Bourne, Lincolnshire, England. The building remains in parochial use, despite the 16th-century Dissolution, as the nave was used by the parish, probably ...

Newstead Abbey Newstead Abbey, in Nottinghamshire, England, was formerly an Augustinian priory. Converted to a domestic home following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, it is now best known as the ancestral home of Lord Byron. Monastic foundation The prior ...

and

Waltham Abbey Waltham Abbey is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. It lies on the Greenwich Meridian, between the River Lea in the west and E ...

. In 1604 the priory was converted into a home for Sir Thomas Barnardiston, grandfather of

Sir Thomas Barnardiston, 1st Baronet Sir Thomas Barnardiston, 1st Baronet (died 14 October 1669) was an English baronet, landowner, soldier and MP who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1659. He fought on the Parliamentary side in the English Civil War. B ...

. In the 17th and 18th centuries it belonged to the Baker family. In 1953, the Irish Augustinian Friars purchased the house with the help of the family who then owned it, and returned it to use as a religious house. Clare Priory is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, first listed in 1961. It retains some original features, such as the little cloister with the shrine, the vaulted porch, and stained glass. The shrine contains a relief of the Mother of Good Counsel by the religious artist, Mother Concordia OSB, based on the original

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

Genazzano Genazzano is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, located on a tuff spur at above sea level that, starting from the Monti Prenestini, ends on the Sacco River valley. History The name originates from its role as vacation resort ...

near Rome.

Burials

Joan of Acre Joan of Acre (April 1272 – 23 April 1307) was an English princess, a daughter of Edward I of England and Eleanor of Castile. The name "Acre" derives from her birthplace in the Holy Land while her parents were on a crusade. She was married twi ...

(1272-1307), daughter of

Edward I Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...

, Countess of Hertford and Countess of Gloucester * Edward de Monthermer (1304-1339), Joan of Acre's youngest son *

Lionel of Antwerp Lionel of Antwerp, Duke of Clarence, (; 29 November 133817 October 1368) was the third son, but the second son to survive infancy, of the English king Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. He was named after his birthplace, at Antwerp in the Duch ...

Duke of Clarence Duke of Clarence is a substantive title which has been traditionally awarded to junior members of the British Royal Family. All three creations were in the Peerage of England. The title was first granted to Lionel of Antwerp, the second son ...

(1338-1368) * Thomas Edwardston (d. 1396), prior of Clare Priory *

Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, 7th Earl of Ulster (6 November 139118 January 1425), was an English nobleman and a potential claimant to the throne of England. A great-great-grandson of King Edward III of England, he was heir presumptive to ...

(d. 1425) Signs at the priory incorrectly include

Elizabeth de Burgh, 4th Countess of Ulster Elizabeth de Burgh, Duchess of Clarence, ''suo jure'' 4th Countess of Ulster and 5th Baroness of Connaught (; ; 6 July 1332 – 10 December 1363) was a Norman-Irish noblewoman who married Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence. Family Elizab ...

among those buried there; she was actually buried at

Bruisyard Abbey The Abbey of Bruisyard was a house of Minoresses (Poor Clares) at Bruisyard in Suffolk. It was founded from Campsey Priory in Suffolk on the initiative of Maud of Lancaster, Countess of Ulster, assisted by her son-in-law Lionel of Antwerp, in 136 ...

.E 101/394/19 in the National Archives, translated at http://clarescribe.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/THE-LAST-JOURNEY-1364.pdf, is the expense account of Nicholas de Fladebury & John de Neuborne who escorted Elizabeth's body via Chester & Coventry for the funeral at Bruisyard on 11 Mar 1364.

Grounds

File:Clare Priory (geograph 3607433).jpg, Garden File:Clare Priory Church (geograph 3968409).jpg, Church File:The new church at Clare Priory (geograph 3998556).jpg, New church

References

External links

Order of St Augustine, International HomepageAugustinian friars in BritainClare Priory
{{coord, 52.0751, 0.5814, type:landmark_region:GB-SFK, display=title Augustinian monasteries in England Monasteries in Suffolk 1248 establishments in England Roman Catholic churches in Suffolk Christian monasteries established in the 13th century 1538 disestablishments in England Burial sites of the House of Plantagenet Clare, Suffolk Augustinian churches in the United Kingdom

History

Burials

Grounds

See also

References

External links