(with thanks to Nez202 at Wikipedia)
After Henry VIII
had finished with his Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s, there was a
fair bit of unclaimed worked masonry lying around the countryside. Though not
all of the nation’s monastic concerns were demolished and recycled, over time a
fair few were. Gisborough Priory is fairly typical in this respect.
Formally
‘dissolved’ in April 1540, it was not properly surrendered to the king’s men
until December of that year, making it one of the last institutions of its kind
to be handed over. There was a plan of sorts to convert the old place into a
secular college, but it never came to fruition – and the buildings were almost
completely flattened soon afterwards. A certain Thomas Legh was given
permission to do so and the pieces “carried away”.
The Chaloners eventually bought the site,
moving into what was left of the complex before relocating to their new
mansion, Old Gisborough Hall, in the late 17th century. The site
underwent further clearance work at this time, and the grounds redeveloped as
formal gardens for the Chaloners’ new home.
Victorian historian John Walker Ord
lamented the loss of the old priory and the way in which it was carelessly
recycled in and around the nearby town:
I have seen with my own eyes broken pillars and pedestals of this august pile desecrated to the vile uses of gateposts, stands for rainwater casks, and stepping-stones over a common sewer. A richly ornamented doorway of the venerable priory forms the entrance to a privy. I have beheld with sorrow, shame, and indignation, the richly ornamented columns and carved architraves of God's temple supporting the thatch of a pig-house.
Other fragments found their way into a
folly at Hardwick Hall estate, near Sedgefield – quite a distance – and
goodness knows where else if the truth be known…
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