The remains of St Mary's Abbey, of

Kenilworth Kenilworth ( ) is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Warwick (district), Warwick District in Warwickshire, England, south-west of Coventry, north of Warwick and north-west of London. It lies on Finham Brook, a ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

are situated in the grounds of St Nicholas' Church and in an adjacent area of

Abbey Fields Abbey Fields is a {{convert, 68, acre, ha, adj=on park that is found in the centre of Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England. The park was once farmland belonging to St Mary's Abbey, which was dissolved in the middle of the sixteenth century and i ...

. Some of its ruins are above ground and some are below ground.

History

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

for

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

s was built on this site in about 1124 by

Geoffrey de Clinton Geoffrey de Clinton (died c. 1134) was an Anglo-Norman noble, chamberlain and treasurer to King Henry I of England. He was foremost amongst the men king Henry "raised from the dust". He married Lescelina. Life Clinton's family origins are a litt ...

, Herbert Art Gallery: ''The Priory Gate at Kenilworth'' by Thomas Hearne (1784)
Watercolour of the Month: November 2007
which is about the same time as he built

Kenilworth Castle Kenilworth Castle is a castle in the town of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England managed by English Heritage; much of it is still in ruins. The castle was founded during the Norman conquest of England; with development through to the Tudor pe ...

. Gardens and pools were made near to the priory, and the priory gained additional land as gifts from Geoffrey de Clinton. A barn, a gatehouse, a belltower and an infirmary were subsequently built near to the main buildings of the priory, and St Nicholas's Church was built nearby in about 1291. The priory gradually gained wealth and the Pope upgraded its status to an abbey in 1447. St Mary's Abbey was signed over to

King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disag ...

on 15 April 1538Victoria County History, History of the County of Warwick: Vol. 2 with Abbot Simon Jekys receiving a handsome annual pension of £100 (the prior, John Lister, only received a pension of £8 with the remaining monks receiving between £5 and £7). The abbey was then dismantled at part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. By about 1700 most of the abbey had become ruins except for the gatehouse and the barn. The ruins were excavated in 1840, 1880 and 1922, and most of the ruins were covered in 1967 for their protection. In the early 21st century, a scheme funded by local councils and the Heritage Lottery Fund led to an exhibition in the Barn Museum and the placing of a number of plaques in the ground and on walls in the area of the site. The text on the plaques explains the historical significance of these portions of the site.

References

External links

Windows on WarwickshireMap of Identifying Plaques
1120s establishments in England Religious organizations established in the 1120s St Mary's Abbey Ruins in Warwickshire Monasteries in Warwickshire History of Warwickshire Augustinian monasteries in England Grade I listed buildings in Warwickshire Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 1538 disestablishments in England Ruined abbeys and monasteries {{england-church-stub