Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Thetford

The ruins of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Thetford are the only remains of this order in the country. During the medieval period there were six such houses in the country. The priory, followed an order with origins in Jerusalem whose purpose was to aid pilgrims who wished to visit the tomb of Christ.

The priory was founded in 1148 by William de Warenne, who also founded the Cluniac community at Castle Acre.

The community at Thetford was never very wealthy and at it's height was home to just eight canons.

The community fell victim to the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536 at which time it was converted and used a barn, evidence of which can still be seen today in the form of a bricked up door way set in the south wall.

The priory site now

Very little is left of the complex today apart from the walls of the nave some of which are almost at roof height. The rest of the complex was demolished. The ruins are grade 1 listed.

My feelings

As I wandered around this small site I got a pleasant feeling of how this once small community felt how they were doing the work of God through providing assistance to pilgrims. From what is left of the complex it is also easy to see how this was never a very wealthy monastery as the over size of the building is very small yet this did not deter from the work they conducted.

Information on this page has been adapted from information available at www.english-heritage.org.uk