October 1120s-1980s A.D. St. Jame’s Priory, Bristol—Founded by Benedictine Monks & Illegitimate Son of Henry I; Dissolved 1539; Nave in Parochial Use Since 1374

October 1120s-1980s A.D.  St. Jame’s Priory, Bristol—Founded by Benedictine Monks & Illegitimate Son of Henry I;  Dissolved 1539;  Nave in Parochial Use Since 1374;  Served as Anglican Parish & Fell into Disuse in 1980s;  In Custodial Care of Little Brothers of Nazareth Since 1996

St James' Priory, Bristol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St James's Priory
Church of Saint James
Location within Bristol
General information
Town or city	Bristol
Country	England
Coordinates	51.458522°N 2.593669°W
Construction started	1129
Client	Robert Rufus

The Priory Church of St James, Bristol (grid reference ST588734), is a Grade I listed building^[1] in Horsefair, Whitson Street.

It was founded in 1129 as a Benedictine priory by Robert, Earl of Gloucester, the illegitimate son of Henry I. The nave survives from 1129 but the tower was added around 1374. The south aisle was widened and rebuilt in 1698. The porch dates from the late 18th century, and the north aisle was rebuilt in 1864.^[1][2]

Legend has it that every 10th stone brought from Normandy to build the Castle was set aside to build the Priory, and therefore ‘now that the castle has vanished these stones are like an echo from 800 years ago.’^{[attribution needed]}

The building is on the English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register and described as being in very bad condition.^[3]

Contents 

·                  1 St James's Fair

·                  2 St James Priory Project

·                  3 Restoration

·                  4 See also

·                  5 References

·                  6 External links

St James's Fair

From 1238 an annual fair held over fifteen days, was held here.^[4] Originally starting on 25 July (the feast day of St James) it was later changed to the first fortnight in September. The fair, which was held in the Churchyard and adjoining streets, was regarded as the most important of the Bristol Fairs. By the 17th century it was so prominent that merchant ships sailing in to Bristol for it were frequently attacked by Turkish pirates in the Bristol Channel. The last fair was held in 1837.^[5] It also subsequently left its mark on the geography of Bristol as a nearby road in Broadmead is called the Horsefair.

St James Priory Project

A plan of the priory from 1882

After the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the nave of the priory church continued in use as an Anglican parish church. It fell into disuse in the 1980s but in 1996 the Little Brothers of Nazareth re-established it as a Catholic church, and set up the St James Priory Project ([2]) which offers support to vulnerable people especially those with a history of substance dependency and mental illness.

Restoration

Following the award of a Heritage Lottery Fund (www.hlf.org.uk) grant of £3.2 million to conserve, repair, and develop the Priory, building work started in November 2009. The St James Priory charity [3] had to fundraise a further £1.2 million of matched funding toward the restoration work. Conservation, restoration and development lasted 21 months and the Priory Church was re-opened on 25 July 2011.^[6][7] Archaeologists from Bristol and Region Archaeological Services were on site during the restoration works, and uncovered a fragment of what may be the earliest scientific sundial in Britain. The sundial is a block of Bath stone carved with hour lines and medieval Arabic numerals in a style that suggests it was probably made in the 15th century.^[8][9] The discovery that a statue in the church had originally been topless made headlines around the world. ^[10] [11]

Ancient Churches: Central Bristol

 

Ancient Churches: Outer Bristol

See also

·                  Grade I listed buildings in Bristol

·                  Churches in Bristol

·                  List of English abbeys, priories and friaries serving as parish churches

References

1.           ^ Jump up to:^a b "Church of St James". Images of England. Retrieved 2006-10-25.

2.           Jump up^ Burrough, THB (1970). Bristol. London: Studio Vista. ISBN 0-289-79804-3.

3.           Jump up^ "St James Priory, Whitson Street". English Heritage Buildings at Risk Register. Retrieved 2007-10-26.

4.           Jump up^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=40272 'Houses of Benedictine monks: The priory of St James, Bristol', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 2 (1907), pp. 74-75

5.           Jump up^ http://www.stjamesprioryproject.org.uk/sites/default/files/Item%202.3%20Lectern%20graphic%20panel%201.pdf All the fun of the fair

6.           Jump up^ "Priory restoration work to begin". BBC News. 2009-11-16. Retrieved 2009-11-16.

7.           Jump up^ [1]

8.           Jump up^ http://www.baras.org.uk/medieval-stone-sundial Medieval stone sundial.

9.           Jump up^ http://www.sundialsoc.org.uk/Bulletin/Bulletin%2024iii%20Davis%20&%20Mason.pdf 'A medieval equinoctial dial excavated at St James's Priory, Bristol.'

10.        Jump up^ "Topless statue in Priory Church restored after being hidden by John Wesley for 3 centuries"

11.        Jump up^ "Wesley church restoration reveals statue of topless woman whose modesty the Methodists had covered for centuries "

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to St James' Priory, Bristol.

·                  ChurchCrawler's Page on St James with numerous photographs

·                  Video interview with Director Sue Jotcham about St James Priory by BizView.tv

·                  History from about-bristol.co.uk

·                  History from ukattraction.com

·                  Bristol and Region Archaeological Services

·                  Heritage at Risk: St+James+Priory