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 Saxons in the Fort |
The Priory Possibly the Anglo-Saxons built a church on this site in the 8th or the 9th century. They may have associated the remains of the Roman fort with the Church. There are certainly the remains of Anglo-Saxon crosses in the walls - but there is no trace of this earlier church. In fact what you see here today is a parish church which was built in the early 15th century. It was, however, once a priory. |
In 1094, Roger of Poitu - the Norman - gave the priory (there must have been one here already) as a gift to the monastery of St Martin of Seez in Normandy - presumably to thank God for his success in the conquering of England. Included with the gift was land to rent out and provide an income. This part of the gift included the fields between the Priory, St. GeorgeÕs Quay and the Marsh and more land and properties at, Heysham, Eccleston, Preston, as well as churches at, Melling, Poulton-le-Fylde and Boulton-le-Sands. Such a lot of property provided more money than was needed to run the priory and surplus money was, therefore, sent to the home monastery in Normandy - about 50 marks per year (a lot of money in those days).
| Of course the monks in a Priory would often provide services for the local population - they were skilled in medicine, could teach and knew about the weather and the cycles of the seasons and the calendar. However, since it is unlikely there were more than six monks based here they probably weren't able to provide many services. |
 The Priory |
England was frequently at war with France and
the authorities were not happy about so much money being sent back to France
by the Priories. Thus, in 1414 Henry V gave the revenues from this 'alien
priory' to the Bridgettine nunnery of Syon, they were later given the Priory
itself - once the last Prior had died. It was they who turned it into a
parish church in 1430.
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