| Summary : About 1120 the Augustinian Priory of St Peter and St Paul was founded at Taunton by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, and took over two endowments held by the then extant minster, (ST22SW142). This became a large house, with 26 canons in 1339, but reduced to 15 in 1377 and 1476. There was a conventual church, quite distinct from St. Mary's and St. James's churches, but other buildings are not particularised. The Priory was dissolved in 1539, and entirely demolished except for the Priory Barn(ST22SW149). |
More information : (ST 23062487). Site of St Peter & St Paul's Priory (NR) (Augustinian).
(ST 23012496). Priory (NR) (remains of). (1,2)
There was a Saxon monastery pertaining to the Bishops of Winchester at Taunton before 904, when it is mentioned in a charter of Edward the Elder. This apparently became secular before the Norman conquest, and two monks held endowments there at Domesday. (See ST22SW142). About 1120 the Augustinian Priory of St Peter and St Paul was founded at Taunton by William Giffard, Bishop of Winchester, and took over the two Domesday endowments. This became a large house, with 26 canons in 1339, but reduced to 15 in 1377 and 1476. There was a conventual church, quite distinct from St. Mary's and St. James's churches, but other buildings are not particularised. The Priory was dissolved in 1539.
The site of the Saxon monastery is not known with certainty, though, as its endowments were taken over, it was probably on the same site as the Priory. The priory buildings were, with the exception of the `Priory Barn' (see ST22SW149), destroyed after the dissolution - the church by order of Henry VIII (5) - but their approximate site at ST 23062487, as given on OS 1/500, is confirmed by an excellent sketch of 1860 (in 3, see illust) showing the disturbed ground of the site in relation to Priory Barn and St. James's church. Hugo (3) considers that the main entrance was in Canon Street, where 'massive foundations ... have repeatedly been discovered', and takes Priory Barn to mark the northern extreme of the site. Pevsner mentions old walling and tracery in the lodges and garden wall of the house called `The Priory' (ST 23002483). Some encaustic tiles from the priory church are in Taunton Museum (5) and some perpendicular tracery in Oake Church is said also to have come from it (9).
`Priory Barn' (ST22SW149, the building identified as `Priory (remains of)' on OS 25" 1960), though almost certainly part of the priory complex, is architecturally dubious. Hugo (3) calls it a large and picturesque barn containing some work of the 16th century with ornamental insertions of uncertain derivation, and (5) is of the opinion that every bit except the doorway is inserted, while noting that it was once used as a chapel by Frenchman (? prisoners) during the `French Wars' (an obvious occasion for ornamental `restoration'). Pevsner notes two late 13th century windows in the south wall which are dressed in Ham stone instead of red sandstone otherwise used, and concludes that they are either inserts or the building is not a barn. (3-9)
No change. (10)
Excavations in the Priory Cemetery in progress from February 1977. (No siting, no results). (11)
Examination of past records of chance finds of human burials in and around Taunton Castle suggest that an extensive cemetery existed in the vicinity of Castle Green, ST 225 245. A recent C14 date of a skeleton found beneath the South range of the castle gave a date of 860+-870. It is argued that since cemeteries were usually placed near to the minster church, the Saxon minster is probably not on the site of the later priory, but nearer to Castle Green. (See ST 22 SW 121) (12)
To the East of Priory Barn, the foundation of an earlier gatehouse and a C12th tank were found. Following the demolition of a C18th building, `The Priory', in Canon Street, parts of an extensive lay cemetery of the priory was discovered, and over 100 skeletons removed for examination. (13)
At nearby Gyfforde Street, the laying of a new gas-pipeline revealed 11 skeletons from the same cemetery, and are perhaps C13th-C15th. (14) |