Llanthony Priory
by Russell Grant
Llanthony Secunda Priory to give its full name is now nothing more than the beautiful and evocative remains of a medieval priory of Augustinian Canons. Today it is still known as Secunda to separate it from the original Llanthony Priory Prima in Monmouthshire from where the first canons came over from.
Prima was seized in 1136 by the Welsh (British) rebels during the civil war between Stephen and Matilda. Llanthony Secunda was founded in the same year to house the fugitive prior and around two dozen canons. Miles of Gloucester supplied the land, which was attached to his own Gloucester Castle . His descendants the Bohuns, were the hereditary Constables of England, and buried for ten generations in the priory church and chapter house. Although many may now be in a watery grave after the building of the canal to Sharpness.
Miles was very active in this civil war of succession, first with Stephen and then against him aligning with his cousin the Empress Matilda, often called Maud.
By 1150 the new priory had stately buildings with glorious gardens and vineyards. Come the peace the Prima site was restored after 1154 but the Priors remained in Gloucester and accordingly Secunda prospered. The two communities separated in 1205 until 1481.
Royal Patronage in the form of Henry III, crowned at Gloucester , came in 1241 where he arrived with his court to discuss and enact affairs of state at Secunda. The Dowager Queen Eleanor living in Gloucester Castle in 1277 was given permission to walk in the Prior's garden. King Edward II was imprisoned here on the way to meet his doom at Berkeley Castle .
In 1301 the church was gutted by fire. The west front was rebuilt but most of the fabric surviving above ground today dates from the end of the 15th century when the then prior, Henry Deane, reconstructed both church and precinct, including the outer gatehouse. The coats of arms of many benefactors of the Priory are of King Henry VII, the Bohun family, supporters of the Priory for 200 years, Henry Dene the Prior of Secunda and Bishop of Bangor, Caernarfonshire.
In 1349 an unwelcome guest, the Black Death took the souls of 19 of the 30 canons. During Richard II's Parliament in Gloucester 1378 it was the scene of the gallows for one of Simon de Montfort's stable lads found guilty of murder. The Duke of Buckingham was stationed here in 1381 with 200 men ready to quell unrest in the city. The two priories united again in 1481 when Llanthony Secunda bought out its mother church.
By this time Llanthony Secunda was the richest Augustinian house in England , noted for its opulent entertaining and hospitality. It welcomed the court of Henry VII in 1500 and 1501 it is said for medicinal reasons. The Tudor King raised the prior to become Archbishop of Canterbury. The priory was dissolved in 1538 by Henry VII's son, Henry VIII, and in 1540 much of the site was sold.
Three generations of the Porter family used the priory as their country house until 1632. During the Civil War Llanthony suffered damage from both sides, especially in the 1643 Siege of Gloucester when Llanthony served as a base for the besieging Royalists.
The Town Clerk ordered the demolition of the Priory Tower to prevent it become a viewfinder for marksmen. After all the bombarding the Priory was a shadow of its former self.
Rather than rebuild the historic priory, it was eventually included in the adjoining parish of Hempsted which was upgraded as a result of having such an illustrious ward. This was also the end of Llanthony House as a home and after 1670 the timber-studded range was converted into a farmhouse.
In the mid-19th Century the site was redesigned to create Llanthony Abbey Farm, The importance of the, to me, beautiful remains of the priory was officially recognised in 1949 when the site was protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument . In 1974 British Railways sold it to Gloucester City Council.
St Mary De Lode Church
The word Lode is derived from an Anglo Saxon word meaning a water way or water course particularly through marshy or fenny ground; in the British language Lod interprets as a wet place or swamp. At one time there was a branch of the river to the west of the church which is long gone, so it is likely there was a guide or ferry across was obviously treacherous terrain.
The Church is almost surely the city of Gloucester 's oldest parish church (some say the oldest Christian place in Britain even) and according to local legend it was the burial place of King Lucius of Britain who in the 2 nd Century created a bishopric in Gloucester . A church of some sorts was built on the site of a 5 th Century Roman temple. According to that master of news of the times, the Venerable Bede, Lucius was converted to Christianity in AD 105. In addition Robert of Gloucester's Chronicle states that the British King died in Gloucester four years after his conversion.
Between the Cathedral and St Mary de Lode church, Bishop Hooper was martyred for his Protestant face refusing to convert to Catholicism during Mary I's turbulent Tudor reign. His statue stands aloof between cathedral and church on the spot that was too hot for him to survive in 1555.
The church wasn't always in the holy business for in 1643 it was a prison for 1500 soldiers captured at Highnam by the Parliamentarian Governor of Gloucester Garrison, Edward Massey. Due to the food shortage the men were held for ten days fed on nothing but vegetable leftovers they where then released with a promise not to fight against Parliament again. In 1646 the Church was again a prison this time for prisoners from Stow on the Wold.
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