Tutbury 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 Tutbury, Staffordshire, England, founded in 1080 by

Henry de Ferrers Henry de Ferrers (died by 1100), magnate and administrator, was a Norman who after the 1066 Norman conquest was awarded extensive lands in England. Origins He was the eldest son of Vauquelin de Ferrers and in about 1040 inherited his father's ...

as a dependency of the abbey of

Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives Saint-Pierre-sur-Dives (, literally ''Saint-Pierre on Dives'') is a former commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. On 1 January 2017, it was merged into the new commune Saint-Pierre-en-Auge.

in Normandy and completed in 1089, in memory of King

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

and his wife Queen Matilda of Flanders, also of Henry de Ferrers' own parents, and in thanksgiving for his own family: "in honour of holy Mary, the Mother of God ... and for the soul of King William and Queen Mathilda, and for the health of my father and mother, and my wife Berta, and my sons, Engenulph, William and Robert, and my daughters and all my ancestors and friends." William, Earl of Derby, had the body of his great-grandfather, the founder of Tutbury, translated and buried on the south side of the high altar of the priory church.Victoria County History of Staffordshire: Alien houses - Priory of Tutbury
/ref> By an unusual set of administrative errors and procedures Tutbury avoided the confiscation of alien priories in 1414 without undergoing formal denization and continued until 1538, when was dissolved during the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

. The prior became vicar of Tutbury, and the western part of the priory church was retained as the parish church, St Mary's Church, Tutbury. The church has a splendid, much admired Norman doorway and other carvings. Outside there is a very interesting sundial, but the stocks are a reproduction. The graveyard around the church provides reminders of the massive underground explosion at nearby Fauld in 1944, when 68 people died, including Italian prisoners of war.CWGC Cemetery report: details from casualty record
/ref>

References

Further reading