St. Faith's Priory, Horsham, otherwise Horsham St. Faith Priory, was a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monastery in
Horsham St Faith,
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
, England.
History
The monastery was founded at Kirkscroft in
Horsford in 1105 by
Robert Fitz-Walter and Sybil his wife, daughter and heiress of Ralph de Cheney, as a dependent priory of
Conques Abbey in
Midi-Pyrénées
Midi-Pyrénées (; oc, Miègjorn-Pirenèus or ; es, Mediodía-Pirineos) is a former administrative region of France. Since 1 January 2016, it has been part of the new region of Occitania. It was the largest region of Metropolitan France by ar ...
, and, like the abbey, dedicated to
Saint Faith
Saint Faith or Saint Faith of Conques (Latin: Sancta Fides; French: Sainte-Foy; Spanish: Santa Fe) is a saint who is said to have been a girl or young woman of Agen in Aquitaine. Her legend recounts how she was arrested during persecution of Chri ...
. It was thus an
alien priory. The site in Horsford proved unsatisfactory, and the foundation moved to Horsham instead. The priory was endowed with income from an unusually high number of churches (23 in Norfolk, 14 in Suffolk, and one in London).
[British History Online: Victoria County History - 'Houses of Benedictine monks: The priory of St Faith, Horsham', in ''A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2'', ed. William Page (London, 1906), pp. 346–349](_blank)
/ref>
In 1390, the prior and the 8 monks that formed the then community were granted denization, and the priory from that time forwards was independent of Conques and regarded as an English house. For this reason it was not affected by the Act of 1414 that enabled Henry V Henry V may refer to:
People
* Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026)
* Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125)
* Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161)
* Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227)
* Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (1 ...
to confiscate the alien priories but survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.
Description
The church and other buildings are no longer extant but the refectory
A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminaries. The name derives from the Lat ...
(or frater) was converted into a house and survives as Abbey Farmhouse.Heritage Gateway: Historic England Research Records - St Faith's Priory
/ref>
References
See also
*List of monastic houses in Norfolk
The following is a list of monastic houses in Norfolk, England.
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List
See also
* List of monastic houses in England
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
* Binns, Alison (1989) ''Studies in the History of Medieval R ...
Monasteries in Norfolk
Benedictine monasteries in England
Alien priories in England
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