Description

SOUTH YORKSHIRE
BARNSLEY
5095
SE30NE BARNSLEY ABBEY LANE
(east side),
4/1 Cundy Cross
6.2.52 Monk Bretton
Priory Remains
GV I
Monk Bretton Priory remains. C12- late C15. Coursed, squared rubble and
ashlar. The complex consists of the church to the north with cloister to
the south side of the nave. To the west of the cloister is a north-south
range with a gatehouse to west of this. A north-south range to the east
of the cloister and the refectory to the south with kitchens further south.
To the south-east is the reredorter and guest house and to the east the
separate infirmary. Most of the remains are only a few feet high and show
the plan only, but the west range and gatehouse survive, in part, to two
storeys. The church is mainly of later C12 date,the north and west walls
rebuilt in the mid C14. The Cistercian type plan consists of a 4-bay aisled
nave, north and south transepts each with 2 east chapels, and an aisless
presbytery with C15 sacristy to south. The west range, mainly C14, altered in
the C16, formerly the prior's lodgings with cellar below, and later a house,
has, at north end lst-floor level a good fireplace with moulded jambs with
capitals, crenellated mantel and tapering stone breast. West of this is a
gateway with 2 cambered-headed entrances to north and south and the remains of
timber studding on its west wall. Part of the south wall of the refectory
stands with 2 tall, late C13 windows, of 2 and 3 lights, both with Geometric
tracery. South of the reredorter is the well-preserved drainage system with
splayed stone sides. A penstock controlled water, pumped from the priory mill
¼ mile away (q.v.), to flush the system.

The monastery of St. Mary Magdalen was founded c1154 for the Monks of the Order
of Cluny and colonised from La Charité-sur-Loire. It became Benedictine in 1281.
After the Dissolution in 1583 the priory passed through various hands until
acquired by Barnsley Borough who, in 1932, placed the ruins in the care of the
state.
Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Dr. J. W. Walker, The Priory of St. Mary Magdalen,
Yorkshire Archaeological Society, 1926.

Rose Graham and R. Gilyard-Beer, Monk Bretton Priory, Yorkshire.
D. of E. Official Handbook, 1966.

N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England, 1967.

Listing NGR: SE3731006529

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Monk Bretton Priory at Wikipedia
• Monk Bretton Priory official website
• Wikidata Q6900613

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 2: The Vale and The Forest of Dean: Vale and Forest of Dean Pt. 2 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Cumbria: Cumberland, Westmorland and Furness (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)