Plympton Priory |
| Hob Uid: 438417 | |
Location :
City of Plymouth
Non Civil Parish
|
| Grid Ref : SX5378056170 |
| Summary : The surviving remains of Plympton Priory, on the east side of the city of Plymouth and the west side of the medieval town of Plympton. The monument consists of the upstanding remains and part of the buried remains of an Augustinian priory in occupation from 1121 until 1539. The priory possibly occupies the site of a minster that was in existence by AD 909 (see SX55NW59). The visible remains of the priory exists in the form of sections of the ruined walls incorporated into later boundary walls which preserve the outline of part of the layout of the church, cloister and west range. Of the 12th century priory church a 20 metre length of the west end of the north wall of the nave survives up to 1.7 metres in height. A 25 metre length of the south wall of the nave survives up to 3.2 metres in height, and contains part of the eastern reveal of one of the two doorways leading into the cloister. To the west of this wall there is an isolated fragment of wall 2.2 metres in length and 2.6 metres high. Two fragments of the northern half of the west front, up to 1.3 metres high, remain visible. Archaeological excavation has revealed five phases of construction between the 12th and 15th centuries. The cloister stood to the south of the church and from the excavated foundations measured some 30 metres east-west, being overlain to the east by the present boundary wall. On the assumption that the cloister was square, the south range now lies beneath the access road and beneath the Tower House in Old Priory to the south of the church. The Tower House, which is Listed Grade II, is a later structure incorporating Norman architectural fragments from a priory building that stood to the south east of the priory church but which was destroyed in the late 19th century. It has been assumed that the priory overlies the Saxon minster, but there is no certain evidence for this. Dependencies: Marsh Barton priory cell, St Anthony in Roseland, Hospital of St Mary Magdalene, Plympton. |
More information : (SX 53785617) Site of (NAT) Priory (NR) (Augustinian Founded AD 1121) (NAT) (1)
A minister at Plympton is recorded before 909 but the collegiate
establishment was replaced by the Priory of Saints Peter and Paul, for regular Augustinian Canons in 1121. The house had probably some 40 canons by the 13th century, and it later became a mitred priory. At the dissolution in 1539 there were 19 canons. (2)
Excavations during 1957 to 1959 by V. S. Ledger on the site of the priory church revealed its width to be 51ft 2 ins. and the walls to be mainly of local limestone. The earliest remains are the base of the deeply recessed main doorway dating to about 1180; other remains are of the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. (3-6)
Tower House, Old Priory (off Market Row), the first house in Priory Row is in the form of a small 4 storey tower built of rubble with granite quoins and a slate gable-ended roof and brick stack. On the ground floor is a 12th century round-arched doorway, while on the side wall 'several small late Medieval windows may be seen'. These are remains of the priory.
Grade 2. (7)
Scheduled. (8)
[Fragments of the Priory can be found at other nearby locations:
SX541564. Alma Cottage in Station Road incorporated grotesque stone heads and moulded granite frames from the Priory. Ondemolistion of the house, thenearly remains were lodged at Plymouth Museum. (PLY/AR75 1.21).
At SX536562. The Helke Arms exhibit fine windows from the Priory.
At the north end of Longbrook Street, on the east side, are two fragments from the Priory wall. The rectory also contains stones from the Priory.] (9)
Several jettons bearing a design of pellets and mullets have been found in the vicinity of the Priory. These are similar to those depicted in Snelling's `View of the Origin and Nature and Use of Jettons or Counters'. (10,11)
(See also SX55NW58 for a former chapel of the Priory, which became the Parish Church of St Mary Blessed Virgin from 1540) |