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The misericords and history of Christchurch Priory,
Christchurch Priory has 39 misericords ranging in date from the mid 13th to the early 16th century.
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History of Christchurch Priory, Dorset.
Although there may have been a foundation as early as 634 AD, there is no written proof of a foundation until sometime about 800 AD. By the time of the Doomsday book , there was a priory supporting 24 secular canons., which the records show was in existence from sometime during Edward the Confessor’s reign (1042 - 1066).
In 1094, Ranulf Flambard, one of King William II’s chief ministers had the old priory and 9 other buildings (probably monastic cells) demolished, and over the next 60 years or so, the new priory was built. The legend of the “miraculous beam” probably originated during the second quarter of the 12th century, this legend led to the renaming of the Saxon town of Thuinam to Christchurch.
In 1150, as the secular canons where getting a nasty reputation for being drunken and dissolute, the priory was dissolved (all good things have to end), are re-formed with ordained canons, as an Augustinian order. Peculiarly, at this point the freehold of the land on which the Priory was built was given to the Earl of Devon, who although good landlords, eventually sold the land to the crown - this meant that the Priory was officially a Royal Manor. This meant that the Priory had to provide and man a ship to aid the king’s campaign against the Scots in 1303.
The next 300 years brought more building, including the vaulting of the North and South nave aisles, the clerestory. By 1350, the nave’s height had been increased to that of today. A spire may have been added during this period to the Norman central crossing tower.. As per usual, the addition of a spire had unwanted effects, and by 1415 the Norman tower had either collapsed or been demolished, this also severely damaged the choir. The choir was re-built, and extended to join up with the lady chapel, which although late 14th century in design, had only just been completed, and the ambulatory. Between 1470 and 1480 a new tower was constructed at the west end of the church to replace the collapsed central tower.
The dissolution of the priory occurred in 1539. On October 23rd, 1540, Henry VIII granted the priory church to the townsfolk and church wardens as their parish church.
The Official Christchurch Priory website.
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