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

Collins Guide to Cathedrals, Abbeys and Priories
This is an excellent page; that needs to be more widely linked in. I note that the basic source is Alec Clifton-Taylor; but would suggest that Henry Thorold provides a more complete gazetteer. For instance Thorald includes both Dale Abbey and Lastingham, which this list omits. Thorold sets his criteria rather more widely than those for this list (obviously he includes churches that are now cathedrals, which would not be included). But he also includes:

- Former monastic churches in Wales, - Former monastic churches now used for colleges and schools (e.g. Milton Abbas, Jesus College, Cambridge.

If I add in missing churches from Thorold's gazetteer, should I continue with the two exclusions above. Milton, for example, has only been a school chapel since the 1950s. TomHennell (talk) 11:15, 28 February 2013 (UTC)


 * Working from Thorold

the following might be added - Witham - Birkenhead - Little Dunmow - Lancaster - Monks Kirby - Nuneaton - Beauchief - Dale - Monkwearmouth - Ramsey - Launde - Knaith - Kyme - Ingham - Weybourne - Carisbrooke - Portchester - Marrick - West Malling - Royston - Leiston - Redlingfield - Rumburgh - Milton Abbas - Lenton - Newstead - St Michael's Mount - Woodkirk - Lastingham

TomHennell (talk) 22:43, 28 February 2013 (UTC)


 * I have now added most of the above; so that the list should be comprehensive for England; plus I have added both cathedrals of St Albans and Southwark, both of which have continued as parish churches after being raised to cathedral dignity. I have not included Launde Priory, Leiston Priory and Newstead Priory; instances where monastic buildings were converted into a country house, retaining some part of the priory as a private chapel.  The resultant chapels survive in use for worship, but neither has ever been parochial.  On the other hand, I have included St Michael's Mount and Milton Abbey; as the chapels there have been at various times in parochial use as a chapels of ease.  In general, I have beeen inclusive; for example in listing Woodkirk, Redlingfield and Nuneaton; where the surviving specifically monastic element of the current fabric is small. TomHennell (talk) 10:14, 5 December 2014 (UTC)


 * So, comparing with Thorold's gazetteer; Excluded from the list in the article are; the Welsh houses (approx 14 of them survive as parish churches); cathedrals, other than Southwark and St Albans; collegiate churches (Beverley, Wimborne, Westminster); and chapels that have never been parochial (Jesus College Cambridge, Newstead, Launde, Leiston, West Malling).   Houses in the article list, that are not recorded in Thorald are; Reading Greyfriars, Gresley Priory and Sempringham Priory.  The first two appear to be oversights of Thorold; Sempringham is more problematic.  Pevsner (or rather Ian Nairn) considers it unlikely that the surviving 12th century parish church preserves any of the building that St Gilbert utilised for his initial house in the 1140s 'unless building was slow' (that is, unless the mid 12th century features were due to a an extended constuction period).  Around 1140 - 1150 Gilbert relocated the house some 350 yards away on a much larger scale.  However, and given the importance of the site, I have left the entry. TomHennell (talk) 10:58, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

Lead from the roofs
I have reverted the attached edit:

"What could be taken away was usually sold: this almost always included glass, bells, lead and timber (the English lead industry collapsed for generations due to the market being flooded with lead taken from the roofs of 95% of the great churches of the country). Where there were transport links available for moving dressed stone, the stone was sold. What was left fell into decay."

None of this appears to me appropriate to this article; but rather to that for the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Moreover the estimate of 95% loss in 'great churches' is undoubtedly wrong. Of around 630 abbey and priory churches; over 100 survived the 1530s in whole or part (albeit that most lost up to half their area of roof). If you concentrate only on the 'cathedral-scale' churches, the proportion of survivors is higher still. TomHennell (talk) 15:30, 10 May 2013 (UTC)

This is a great page!
Please see header. That. Well done and thanks DBaK (talk) 20:51, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

English Mediaeval Monasteries 1066-1540; Roy Midmer 1979
Midmer provides a comprehensive gazetteer of regular religious sites in use between the Conquest and the Dissolution in England - with a note of visible remains in each case. For those instances where a monastic church remained in use after the dissolution, he denotes this on his set of maps through underlining of the order symbol. I have been adding such cases into this list from Midmer. He has some exclusions - alien houses that never became denizen; and houses of the military orders - and of course he excludes any pre-conquest site with no regular presence in his period in question. On the other hand, he does note a considerable number of sites where a religious house shared access to an existing parish church for their conventual worship. In general, I propose to add entries to this list which Midmer marks with an underlined symbol but which are not recorded by Thorold or Clifton Taylor; Stow and Aconbury so far. TomHennell (talk) 10:15, 5 July 2018 (UTC)

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