Thetford Priory is a Cluniac Priory located at Thetford

Thetford

Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland district of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just south of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , has a population of 21,588.-History:...

, Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, England.

One of the most important East Anglian monasteries, it was founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk

Roger Bigod, 1st Earl of Norfolk

Roger Bigod was a Norman knight who came to England in the Norman Conquest. He held great power in East Anglia, and five of his descendants were Earl of Norfolk. He was also known as Roger Bigot, appearing as such as a witness to the Charter of Liberties of Henry I of England.-Biography:Roger came...

 and dedicated to Our Lady.

In the 13th century, the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared in a vision

Vision (religion)

In spirituality, a vision is something seen in a dream, trance, or ecstasy, especially a supernatural appearance that conveys a revelation.Visions generally have more clarity than dreams, but traditionally fewer psychological connotations...

 to locals requesting the addition to the site of a Lady Chapel

Lady chapel

A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...

. During its construction, the old statue of her on the site was discovered to have a hollow in its head concealing saints' relic

Relic

In religion, a relic is a part of the body of a saint or a venerated person, or else another type of ancient religious object, carefully preserved for purposes of veneration or as a tangible memorial...

s, and became a magnet for pilgrims.

It housed the tombs of the Howard dynasty, of Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset

Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset was the son of King Henry VIII of England and his teenage mistress, Elizabeth Blount, the only illegitimate offspring whom Henry acknowledged.-Childhood:...

 and of other early Tudor Dynasty

Tudor dynasty

The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...

 officials. Even this could not save the priory from the Dissolution of the Monasteries

Dissolution of the Monasteries

The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...

 and, on its closure in 1536, the Howard tombs were removed to St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham

St Michael the Archangel, Framlingham

St Michael the Archangel in Framlingham, Suffolk, known affectionately as St Mike's, is a Church of England church dedicated to Saint Michael the Archangel. It was the burial site of the House of Howard. The church was declared a Grade I listed building in 1966.-History:The Church of Saint Michael...

.

Its ruins (including the lower walls of the church and cloister, along with the impressive shell of the priors' lodging and, reached by a pathway from the main site, an almost complete 14th-century gatehouse) are open to the public as an English Heritage

English Heritage

English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...

 site. They are reputedly haunted and was the subject of an episode of the television series Ghosthunters

Ghosthunters

Ghosthunters was a British paranormal documentary television series that originally aired from 1996 to 1997 on the Discovery Channel. The four-season program was produced by Inca Productions of Covent Garden, London , hosted by Ian Cashmore, and narrated by William Woollard...

.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Holy Sepulchre Priory, Thetford

Holy Sepulchre Church, Thetford was a priory in Norfolk, England. The ruined nave of this 14th century church are the only surviving remains in England of a priory of Canons of the Holy Sepulchre, who aided pilgrims to Christ's tomb. Later used as a barn....

is 300 metres to the south.

External links

• History of Thetford Priory at English Heritage