St Mary's Priory and Cathedral was a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
institution in
Coventry
Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
, England, founded in the 12th century by transformation of the former monastery of St Mary, and destroyed during the
Dissolution of the Monasteries in the early 16th century. It was located on a site north of
Holy Trinity
The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...
and the former
St Michael's parish churches in the centre of the city, on a site bordered by Priory Row to the south, Trinity Street to the west, and the
River Sherbourne to the north.
Excavated remains from the west end of the cathedral are open to the public.
Origins
The first chronicled event in the history of Coventry took place in 1016 when
King Canute and his army of Danes were laying waste to many towns and villages in Warwickshire in a bid to take control of England, and on reaching the settlement of Coventry they destroyed the Saxon nunnery founded by St Osburg.
[Historic Warwickshire, Mary Dormer Harris, Memorials of Old Warwickshire, ed Alice Dryden, 1908] Leofric, Earl of Mercia
Leofric (died 31 August or 30 September 1057) was an Earl of Mercia. He founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock and was a very powerful earl under King Cnut and his successors. Leofric was the husband of Lady Godiva.
Life
Leofric was ...
and his wife
Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries.
She is mainly remembere ...
rebuilt on the remains of the nunnery to found a
Benedictine
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...
in 1043 dedicated to St Mary for an abbot and 24 monks.
John of Worcester
John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is now usually held to be the author of the .
Works
John of Worcester's principal work was the (Latin for "Chronicle from Chronicles") or ...
tells us that "He and his wife, the noble Countess Godgifu, a worshipper of God and devout lover of St Mary ever-virgin, built the monastery there from the foundations out of their own patrimony, and endowed it adequately with lands and made it so rich in various ornaments that in no monastery in England might be found the abundance of gold, silver, gems and precious stones that was at that time in its possession."
Bishop
Robert de Limesey transferred his
see to Coventry , and in 1102 papal authorisation for this move also turned the monastery of St Mary into a priory ''and'' cathedral. The subsequent rebuilding and expansion of St Mary's was completed about 125 years later.
When the monastery was founded Leofric gave the northern half of his estates in Coventry to the monks to support them. This was known as the "
Prior
The term prior may refer to:
* Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery)
* Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case
* Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics
* Prio ...
's-half", and the other was called the "Earl's-half" which would later pass to the
Earls of Chester
The Earldom of Chester () was one of the most powerful earldoms in medieval England, extending principally over the counties of Cheshire and Flintshire. Since 1301 the title has generally been granted to heirs apparent to the English throne ...
, and explains the early division of Coventry into two parts (until the Royal "Charter of Incorporation" was granted in 1345). In 1250, Roger de Mold (referred to in older documents as "Roger de Montalt"), the earl at the time who had gained his position by marriage, sold his wife's rights and estates in the southern side of Coventry to the Prior, and for the next 95 years the town was controlled by a single "land lord." However, disputes arose between the monastic tenants and those previously of the Earl, and the Prior never gained complete control over Coventry.
Architecture
The main cathedral building was
cruciform
A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...
in shape, 425 feet (130 metres) long and 145 feet (44 metres) wide at the west front.
["The building of Coventry's first cathedral" on the historiccoventry website]
Retrieved on 1 October 2011 It was constructed in two stages, up to 1143 and from c. 1150 to c. 1250.
The cathedral had a central tower and two towers at the western end, the remains of which are still visible. It is believed there were three
spire
A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...
s similar to, though pre-dating, those at
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Chad in Lichfield, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Lichfield, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lichfield and the principal church of the diocese ...
.
History
The abbey church of St Mary's was consecrated in 1043, and Earl Leofric was buried there in 1057.
In 1143 Robert Marmion fortified the partially-built cathedral in an attempt to gain control of
Coventry Castle. Part of his alterations include a trench around the church.
In 1459 the
Parliament of Devils was held during the
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and in following centuries as the Civil Wars, were a series of armed confrontations, machinations, battles and campaigns fought over control of the English throne from 1455 to 1487. The conflict was fo ...
in the chapter house of the Benedictine priory.
During
Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
's
Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, the king offered the cathedral buildings to the people of Coventry, however they were unable to raise sufficient funding, and the king ordered the buildings destroyed.
Masonry
Masonry is the craft of building a structure with brick, stone, or similar material, including mortar plastering which are often laid in, bound, and pasted together by mortar (masonry), mortar. The term ''masonry'' can also refer to the buildin ...
and other items were removed and used for other purposes, leaving only parts of the cathedral standing.
["Coventry dig on the Time Team website"]
Retrieved on 1 October 2011 It was the only English cathedral to be destroyed during the
Reformation
The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...
.
In 1539 the seat of the diocese was transferred to
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Saint Mary and Saint Chad in Lichfield, is a Church of England cathedral in the city of Lichfield, England. It is the seat of the bishop of Lichfield and the principal church of the diocese ...
, and it was renamed the
Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry.
The north-west tower survived the destruction and was used as a house until 1714, when a
charity school
Charity schools, sometimes called blue coat schools, or simply the Blue School, were significant in the history of education in England. They were built and maintained in various parishes by the voluntary contributions of the inhabitants to ...
was founded there, Coventry's
Blue Coat School.
Coventry remained without a cathedral until 1918, when St Michael's parish church (built in the 14th and 15th centuries, and so originally standing simultaneously with St Mary's) was elevated to this status. St Michael's was severely damaged during the
Coventry Blitz
The Coventry Blitz ( blitz: from the German word ''Blitzkrieg'' meaning "lightning war" ) was bombing that took place on the British city of Coventry. The city was bombed many times during the Second World War by the German Air Force (''Luftw ...
on 14 November 1940 by the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
, and replaced after the war by the current
St Michael's Cathedral.
Rediscovery and excavations
In 1856 the Blue Coat School was rebuilt on the same site, and during the construction the remains of the cathedral's west wall were discovered, including the foot of the south-west tower and its spiral staircase. The school building remains on the site, but the school itself moved to a new location in the 1960s.
An excavation in the 1960s discovered the original doorway to the chapter house.
In the late 1990s
Coventry City Council
Coventry City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the city of Coventry in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Coventry has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasi ...
decided to redevelop part of the cathedral site as a public park as part of its Phoenix Initiative, and invited the
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
programme ''
Time Team
''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...
'' to perform an
archaeological dig on the site.
The dig took place in April 1999
["Sent back to Coventry on the Time Team website"]
Retrieved on 1 October 2011 and consisted of four main
trench
A trench is a type of digging, excavation or depression in the ground that is generally deeper than it is wide (as opposed to a swale (landform), swale or a bar ditch), and narrow compared with its length (as opposed to a simple hole or trapping ...
es. One was in the site of the
chapter house
A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...
, one was to reach the original floor, four metres below the current ground level, and two were to identify the locations of the two crossing piers which would have borne the weight of the tower and roof.
The archaeologists digging in the chapter house were unable to locate the doorway that had been photographed during the 1960s excavations, and it was not until the third day of their three-day dig that they decided it must have been removed by the earlier team (which should have been recorded at the time). This delay meant that it was not until the end of the final day that a stone-lined grave was discovered at the bottom of the trench. Several members of the team extended their dig into a fourth day to investigate this find more fully.
Work on the fourth day revealed remains of a body in the grave just inside the chapter house door.
Forensic
Forensic science combines principles of law and science to investigate criminal activity. Through crime scene investigations and laboratory analysis, forensic scientists are able to link suspects to evidence. An example is determining the time and ...
examination carried out by the programme suggested that the person died in late-middle age and was
overweight
Being overweight is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary.
, excess weight reached epidemic proportions globally, with more than ...
and
diabetic
Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...
. They concluded it was likely the man had been a
prior
The term prior may refer to:
* Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery)
* Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case
* Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics
* Prio ...
.
''Time Team'' revisited the excavation site for a programme in March 2001 to explore some of the discoveries made since their earlier episode. Coventry Archaeology had continued a dig on the priory, while Northampton Archaeology carried out digs on the cathedral. One of the featured findings was a layer of
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...
around the entrance, which still carried markings from the wheels of carts believed to have been removing stone after the building was demolished.
Another discovery in December 2000
was the 14th-century '
Apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...
Mural'.
"City diggers unearth 14th century treasure" on the Coventry Telegraph website
Retrieved on 1 October 2011 During removal of debris from an undercroft, a small piece of masonry bearing a painted gold crown was discovered, and this discovery was followed several days later by a larger item. A piece of sandstone was found measuring 43 cm by 50 cm, with a painted area covering 20 cm by 30 cm showing four heads, three of which were wearing crowns.
Remains are visible from both ends of the cathedral building revealing a length of .
Following the excavations parts of the remains are open to the public as the 'Priory Garden' which can be walked through or above on wooden walkways. The site of the cloisters has also become a park, with a visitor centre containing some of the artefacts excavated.
Burials
*Leofric, Earl of Mercia
Leofric (died 31 August or 30 September 1057) was an Earl of Mercia. He founded monasteries at Coventry and Much Wenlock and was a very powerful earl under King Cnut and his successors. Leofric was the husband of Lady Godiva.
Life
Leofric was ...
*Lady Godiva
Lady Godiva (; died between 1066 and 1086), in Old English , was a late Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who is relatively well documented as the wife of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, and a patron of various churches and monasteries.
She is mainly remembere ...
*Ælfgar, Earl of Mercia
Ælfgar (died ) was the son of Leofric, Earl of Mercia, by his famous wife Godgifu ( Lady Godiva). He succeeded to his father's title, Earl of Mercia, and responsibilities on the latter's death in 1057. He gained the additional title of Earl of E ...
*John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings
John Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings (6 May 1262 – February 1313), was an English landowner, soldier and administrator who was one of the Competitors for the Crown of Scotland in 1290 and signed and sealed the Barons' Letter of 1301. He was Lo ...
and wife Isabel de Valence
*Richard Gernon of Wybunbury, 2nd son of Ranulf de Gernon, 4th Earl of Chester
Ranulf was a masculine given name in Old French and Old Occitan, and is a masculine given name in the English language. ''Ranulf'' was introduced into England by the Norman conquest or alternatively is said to have been introduced to Scotland and ...
See also
* Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Coventry
*Grade I listed buildings in Coventry
There are 19 Grade I listed buildings in the City of Coventry. In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a building or structure of special historical or architectural importance. These buildings are legally protected from demolition, as wel ...
References
Further reading
* Demidowicz, George (ed.) ''Coventry's First Cathedral: The Cathedral and Priory of St. Mary. Papers from the 1993 Anniversary Symposium'' (1994)
* Harris, Mary Dormer. ''The Story of Coventry'' (1911) J. M. Dent's "The Mediaeval Towns" series
* Hobley, Brian. ''Excavations at the Cathedral and Benedictine Priory of St. Mary, Coventry'' (1971)
* Rylatt, Margaret & Mason, Paul. ''The Archaeology of the Medieval Cathedral and Priory of St. Mary, Coventry'' (2003)
* Woodhouse, Frederick W. ''The Churches of Coventry: A Short History of the City and its Medieval Remains'' (1909)
{{Coord, 52.4089, -1.5085, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Monasteries in the West Midlands (county)
Grade I listed churches in the West Midlands (county)
Scheduled monuments in the West Midlands (county)
Buildings and structures in Coventry
1043 establishments in England
Grade I listed monasteries
Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation