| Summary : Parish church, former 13th century Lady Chapel of the conventual church of the Augustinian Priory of St Mary the Virgin, which was founded in 1106 and Dissolved in 1534. Excavations have recovered the plan of the church, and showed that the church was about 70.0m long, cruciform in shape with a central tower, and that the monastic buildings of which nothing remains above ground level, were to the South in an area now occupied by a council estate. |
More information : (TL 656211) Site of (NAT) Priory (NR) (Augustinian Founded AD 1106 (NAT).
(TL 65602123) Ch (NAT). (1)
Priory of St Mary, Little Dunmow, was founded for Augustinian canons by Geoffrey Baynard in 1106. It was one of the earliest houses of the order in England. At its dissolution in 1534 there was a prior and ten canons. St Mary the Virgin Church was probably the Lady Chapel of the priory and is all that remains above ground of the priory; the conventual buildings and church were demolished soon after 1534. These monastic buildings lay south of the church. In 1913-14 the priory church was excavated. St Mary the Virgin church was partly rebuilt about 1370 and has 19th century alterations. Grade A. (2-4)
A housing estate is being built across the northern end of the field in which the priory lay. No foundations have been revealed but the whole area has a scatter of thin tile and flint over the surface. At TL 65602120 a skeleton was found, during road construction, buried 0.5m deep. Nothing was associated with the remains. (5)
A detailed plan in the church, based on the 1913-14 excavations, show that the present St Mary's parish church, see photograph, was originally known as 'Lady Chapel' which was added to the S side of the chancel of the priory church in the 14th century.
Of the 12th century priory church all that remains is part of the N and W walls of the present church, including the arcading between chancel and 'Lady Chapel', and fragments of the sedilia on the outside wall of the parish church.
Excavations showed that the church was about 70.0m long, cruciform in shape with a central tower, and that the monastic buildings of which nothing remains above ground level, were to the S in an area now occupied by a council estate. (6)
Church of St Mary the Virgin. Parish Church. Formerly the Lady Chapel C14 of the Augustinian Priory of St Mary the Virgin, founded by Geoffrey Baynard. It is all that now remains above ground, the rest being demolished after the Dissolution 1536. Grade I (see list for details). (7)
Additional bibliography. (8,9) |