Cherie's Place

Last weekend I briefly visited Wenlock Priory, which some of you will remember is one of my favourite places. The air within the grounds was distinctly chilly, much chillier than it was outside in the town. I must have been due to the overnight rainfall collecting in the earth, keeping the temperature cool.
This [...]

In 1521 there was a dispute over the election of the prior which led to a visitation from Dr John Allen who took evidence from each of the monks at the priory. He published a report that showed that the once-strict following of the rule of St Benedict had now become slack. The [...]

This is the view from the Lady Chapel at Wenlock Priory, it gives you and idea how peaceful the place is.

The church was built on a traditional cruciform plan, so if you walk up the nave of the church you will come to the point where where the two arms of the cross (transepts) meet.  The south transept is very imposing at over 70 feet high.
In the second photo to the left of the photograph [...]

The infirmary was built in the twelfth-century and was originally a single storey. It was the place where the sick, old and infirm monks and lay brothers were housed. The second storey was added later and formed part of a quadrangle of buildings, not all of which survive:

In the fifteenth century, Prior Richard [...]

The chapter house was built in around 1140, this is the place where the monks and the prior met each morning to discuss priory business and to issue punishments for disobedience. Inside the guidebook is a lovely reconstruction of how the inside may have looked in the fourteenth century. All the arcading and [...]

One of the parts of Wenlock Priory that always fascinates me when I visit is the remains of the lavabo.  It is a huge water vessels that was built in around 1220 using parts of an earlier lavabo which was dated around 1160-80:
The lavabo was an octagonal building with open arcades which supported a roof.  [...]