Норфолк графтығындағы Тетфорд Приорлығының тарихы

Monastic house in Norfolk, England

Thetford Priory is a Cluniac monastic house in Thetford, Norfolk, England. Founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod of Norfolk, Thetford was one of the most important monasteries of East Anglia. It should not be confused with the Dominican Friary of Blackfriars, Thetford that later became part of Thetford Grammar School.

One of the most important East Anglian monasteries, Thetford Priory was founded in 1103 by Roger Bigod of Norfolk, in lieu of a vow of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The abandoned cathedral church of the East Anglian bishops, on the Suffolk side of the River Little Ouse, was at first selected as the church of the new priory, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. A cloister or cells of woodwork were erected for the accommodation of the monks, and Benedictines from the Priory of St Pancras in Lewes arrived in 1104. Three years later, a new prior realized that the monastic site, surrounded by the houses of the burghers, was inconveniently overcrowded, with no room for a guest house. Bigod then gave them a pleasant and open site on the other side of the river in the county of Norfolk. The monks relocated to their new premises on St. Martin's Day, 1114. 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 site. The priory and gatehouse are Grade I listed buildings. The ruins are reputedly haunted and were the subject of an episode of the television series Ghosthunters.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, another Grade I listed building, and originally part of another medieval monastery, is 300 metres to the south, directly across the River Little Ouse.