Editing Gisborough Priory (section)

==Description of the priory buildings==
[[File:Gisborough Priory site plan.png|right|thumb|Site plan of Gisborough Priory]]
Gisborough Priory is characterised by a few highly visible remains. The priory church survives in a fragmentary state, dominated by the east wall of the [[presbytery (architecture)|presbytery]] that stands to its full height. Several of the priory church's column bases can also be seen, as can a number of excavated graves within the presbytery. Elsewhere on the site, the outline of the [[cloister]] is visible but is largely unexcavated, while the ruins of the west (or cellarer's) range constitutes the largest area of other remains above ground. A ruined gatehouse and a still-intact [[dovecote]] (the latter off-limits to visitors) stand on the western edges of the site.

===Priory church===
[[File:T.homas Girtin Guisborough Priory, Yorkshire 1801.jpg|left|thumb|The ruins of Gisborough Priory in 1801, painted by [[Thomas Girtin]]]]
The remains of the priory church are dominated by the eastern gable wall of the [[presbytery (architecture)|presbytery]] that still stands to its full height. Its great east window is regarded as one of the finest examples of late-13th-century church architecture. The design is so close to that of the eastern arm of [[Ripon Cathedral]], which was built around the same time, that it is thought to have been modelled on Ripon's design. The window's [[tracery]] has disappeared, as has its sill, but from the stubs and surviving fragments it can be deduced that it had seven major lights (the glazed openings in the window). At its centre was a great circle of tracery filled with [[trefoil]]ed lights. The main gable of the east wall is flanked by massive [[buttress]]es capped with gables and octagonal [[pinnacle]]s. A similar pair of pinnacles top the main gable, flanking a window of unusual design; a bracket projects from the lower lobe to support a statue (no longer present), possibly of the Virgin Mary, to whom the priory was dedicated.<ref name="Coppack9-11">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|pp=9–11}}</ref>

Little remains above ground of the rest of the priory, but much can be deduced from the surviving stonework. In its final form the priory church had a [[nave]] of eight bays and a [[Choir (architecture)|quire]] and presbytery of nine bays, with a total length of {{convert|107|m|ft|order=flip}}. The survival of the east wall allows us to deduce that the ridge line of the roof stood {{convert|29.6|m|ft|order=flip}} above ground.<ref name="Coppack7">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=7}}</ref> The presbytery's arcades were supported by eight clustered shafts, the bases of which are still visible, with [[Capital (architecture)|capitals]] carved with naturalistic foliage. The [[clerestory]] and [[triforium]] were combined into a single arch with the main arcade below. The presbytery's high vault was executed in stone with bosses decorated in red and white paint and gold leaf, traces of which were still visible when several of the bosses were found in the 19th century. The eastern bay of the presbytery was divided into several chapels and the remnants of [[parclose]] screens are visible on the main aisle's north and south [[respond]]s. The main altar would have stood a short distance to the west, behind a tall screen.<ref name="Coppack12">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=12}}</ref>

At the angle of each [[aisle]], a [[Stairway#Spiral and helical stairs|spiral staircase]] – still visible on each side of the surviving east wall – gave access to a passage inside the walls and to secondary stairs within the angles of the main gable enabling access to all parts of the building for maintenance and cleaning without requiring scaffolding. Nothing remains of the north or south transepts, which extended on the north side beyond the present boundary wall into the graveyard of [[St. Nicholas's Church, Guisborough|St Nicholas's Church]].<ref name="Coppack12" />

Several burials (presumably of high-ranking benefactors and clergy) were made within the priory and 19th-century archaeologists found stone coffins during excavations. They are visible against the east wall, but their original location was not recorded. Two centrally placed grave slabs are visible below the east window.<ref name="Coppack12" /> The priory once housed the [[Brus cenotaph]], a memorial to its founders erected in 1521. It was removed in 1540 and dismantled. Most of its parts were recovered and reassembled in the 19th century, and the reconstructed cenotaph is displayed in Saint Nicholas' Church next to the ruins.<ref name="Coppack13">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=13}}</ref>

The priory church housed a shrine to the Virgin Mary which one of the most significant Marian shrines in the north, along with others at [[Walsingham]], [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]], [[Scarborough, North Yorkshire|Scarborough]], [[Jesmond]] and [[Carlisle, Cumbria|Carlisle]].<ref>{{harvnb|Webb|2000|page=103}}</ref> Although it was destroyed during the Reformation along with the priory, it was revived in 1949 by Father Arthur Mercer, Guisborough's first Roman Catholic parish priest for 400 years, and is housed in the town's St Paulinus Church.<ref>{{harvnb|Santoro|2011|page=425}}</ref>

===Ranges and cloister===
[[File:Gisborough Priory west range.jpg|left|thumb|Ruins of the west range with the ''cellarium'' visible in the background. The building in the foreground is the outer parlour. The raised ground to the left is the site of the cloister, as yet largely unexcavated.]]
Fragments of other buildings associated with the priory can be seen on the site. There was a [[cloister]] measuring {{convert|36.5|m|ft|order=flip}} square to the south of the priory church surrounded by domestic buildings or ranges. They replaced an earlier cloister and ranges destroyed in the fire of 1289 rebuilt to a new, larger, design.<ref name="Coppack13-14">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|pp=13–14}}</ref> Processional doors on the cloister's north wall gave access to the nave of the church. In 1854, surviving arches and columns from the cloister were taken to London for display in the [[The Crystal Palace|Crystal Palace]] where they provided the basis for a reconstruction of a medieval cloister in the "English National Art Court" section of the exhibition.<ref>{{cite news|title=Opening of the Crystal Palace|work=The Morning Chronicle|location=London|date=12 June 1854}}</ref>

Fragments of the west range – the cellarer's range – are extant. It was entered from the west by an outer parlour, projecting from the north end of the range, where members of the community received visitors. The prior lived on the upper floor which comprised a hall, chamber and chapel dedicated to [[Saint Hilda]]. The prior's rooms were probably located above the outer parlour, as was the pattern at other monasteries, accessing the cloister and the outside world.<ref name="Coppack15">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=15}}</ref> The largest surviving fragment of the range comprises a ''[[cellarium]]'' or storehouse where supplies were kept. It is a vaulted undercroft of nine bays constructed from stone [[ashlar]] with its floor level below that of the cloister. It is relatively well-preserved and believed to have been divided by timber partitions which were later replaced in stone.<ref name="Coppack16" />

Most of the [[refectory]] (dining hall) range to the south of the cloister and the dorter range to the east, which contained the [[chapter house]] and dormitory, have yet to be excavated. Only the western end of the refectory range has been excavated; it presents a vaulted undercroft, three bays of which survive, above which the refectory was located on the first floor.<ref name="Coppack16">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=16}}</ref> A service passage survives between the kitchen and the refectory. The western part of the undercroft was used as a [[buttery (room)|buttery]] in the late Middle Ages but would have had severely restricted headroom due to its raised floor.<ref name="Coppack18-19">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|pages=18–19}}</ref>

===Outer buildings===
[[File:Gisborough Priory gatehouse.jpg|right|thumb|The remains of the outer porch of the great gate of Gisborough Priory]]
The priory buildings stood at the centre of a walled precinct arranged in two courts, inner and outer with gatehouses at the entrances to both; the remains of the great gate of the inner court are extant but the outer gatehouse no longer survives. The gate comprised an outer porch, an inner gatehall and a porter's lodge on the ground floor with chambers above the arch. It survived intact into the early 18th century but only the outer porch remains.<ref name="Coppack3">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=3}}</ref> The structure consists of a single large round-headed archway on the outer side with two smaller arches of different sizes, both deeply rebated to accommodate doors, a few metres to the south. The larger arch was for wagons while pedestrians entered through the smaller arch. Little remains of the gatehall or the porter's lodge; the only remnants visible are the stub of its north wall and a [[latrine]] shaft.<ref name="Coppack4">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=4}}</ref>

The canons built an octagonal [[dovecote]] a short distance to the west of the west range. The dovecote is extant, though it cannot be visited and is not part of the priory grounds.<ref name="NHL" /> Built in the 14th century, it was modified in the mid-18th century with the addition of a pyramidal roof tiled with [[Slate industry in Wales|Welsh slate]] and capped with an open-sided timber cupola. The original nesting boxes have been removed and the dovecote is used as a garden store.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-59927-priory-dovecote-to-west-of-st-mary-s-prio|title=Priory Dovecote, to West of St Mary's Priory Ruins, Guisborough|publisher=British Listed Buildings|access-date=6 August 2011}}</ref>

===Older buildings on the site===

Gisborough Priory was rebuilt three times; the ruins visible today are principally those of the third rebuild. The site was occupied in Anglo-Saxon times by at least one structure, possibly a timber-framed church<ref name="Greene229">{{harvnb|Greene|2005|page=229}}</ref> or boundary wall, indicated by a number of postholes.<ref name="NHL" /> It is believed there was a Saxon settlement in the vicinity as late-Saxon [[potsherds]] and an 8th-century coin have been found buried under the remains of the priory's west nave. The site was abandoned at some point and by the time the priory was built the land on which it stood was mostly under cultivation. Part of it was used as a graveyard in the early 12th century and an early Norman building was erected in the vicinity, possibly a temporary church.<ref name="NHL" />

The Norman priory, completed around 1180, was relatively short and narrow. It was constructed in the [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque]] style with twin aisles either side of the nave and a single tower at the west end, aligned with the main axis of the church. It could be entered from the north, via an external door, and the south via the cloister. The existence of the northward door suggests it was used by a secular congregation, possibly the local nobility and patrons. A number of graves associated with the first priory have been found in the south aisle's floor and against the north wall.<ref name="NHL" />

The priory was rebuilt around 1200 on a larger scale with the Romanesque church demolished to its first course of [[ashlar]]. The construction of the new church continued through much of the 13th century. The enlarged priory had twin towers at the west end flanking a large double doorway above which was a central [[rose window]]; piped water was provided using lead pipes from the cloister, under the church to buildings or standpipes to the north or west of the priory.<ref name="NHL" /> The main body of the church comprised a nave with two aisles, transepts and a choir. The aisles were laid with geometric coloured tiles adjoining the sandstone columns of the nave. The north aisle was divided into alcoves or private chapels where a number of people – probably local nobles and gentry – were buried. An unusual feature of the church was a well, sunk into the nave, possibly built in an effort to safeguard its water supplies.<ref name="CCAS">{{harvnb|Cleveland County Archaeology Section|1993|page=x}}</ref>

The effects of the fire that destroyed the priory in 1289 can be seen in scorched paving between the surviving pillars. It was thought the church had been completely rebuilt, but excavations in the 1980s show that a substantial amount of the less damaged west end was reused which resulted in a distinct inconsistency between the two ends, which were constructed in different architectural styles. Rebuilding was a major task that took several generations and was probably not completed until the end of the 14th century.<ref name="CCAS" /> It is unclear how much of the second priory survived the fire.<ref name="Coppack7" /> Where the priory was rebuilt, its builders reused as much as possible; the core of the surviving eastern gable wall is full of fragments from the destroyed second priory.<ref name="Coppack9-11" />

===Priory Gardens and Monks' Pond===
[[File:The Monks' Walk - geograph.org.uk - 610087.jpg|right|thumb|alt=A straight leaf-covered path between two rows of old trees|The Monks' Walk in the Gisborough Priory Gardens]]
Land immediately south of the priory was used by the Chaloners for formal gardens attached to Old Gisborough Hall. In the early 18th century they planted an oval-shaped double avenue of trees, the Monks' Walk, where stonework recovered from mid-19th century excavations was deposited. In between the trees was a manicured lawn used to hold musical and theatrical productions.<ref name="Darnton48" /> The Monks' Walk fell into disuse and became overgrown, but it was restored by the Gisborough Priory Project between 2007 and 2009.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Monk’s Walk - Gisborough Priory Project |url=https://gisboroughprioryproject.org.uk/the_monks_walk/ |website=gisboroughprioryproject.org.uk |access-date=21 August 2024 |date=4 August 2021}}</ref>

In the late 19th century, Margaret Chaloner, wife of the [[Richard Chaloner, 1st Baron Gisborough|first Lord Gisborough]], laid out formal gardens of a typical late-Victorian and Edwardian design with elaborate bedding schemes and gravelled paths.<ref name="Darnton49">{{harvnb|Darnton|2004|page=49}}</ref> There was a rose garden and a sunken Italian garden with an ornamental pool at its centre. They were open to the public for a small fee and could be entered through a gateway on Bow Street.<ref name="Darnton51">{{harvnb|Darnton|2004|page=51}}</ref> The gardens are now freely accessible.

Further east, off the Whitby Road, is the Monks' Pond, the canons' fish pond. It presents a dramatic vista in which the priory arch is reflected and has often been photographed and painted. In 1908, the pond was the scene of an elaborate water tableau organised by Lady Gisborough to raise funds for the restoration of St Nicholas' Church.<ref name="Darnton51" /> The pond was home to a number of exceptionally large fish, but pollution in 2000 caused by a sewage leak led to the death of more than 5,000 fish.<ref>{{cite news|last=Relton|first=Katie|title=5,000 fish die in ancient lake|work=Durham County Publications|date=4 September 2000}}</ref>

===Other properties owned by the priory===

The priory was responsible for St Leonard's [[leprosy|leper]] hospital at [[Hutton Lowcross]] to the south-west of Guisborough. The hospital was probably founded in the 12th century and became a dependency of the priory in 1275. It was last documented in 1339. Its fate is unclear but it probably survived until the Dissolution in 1540. Archaeological excavations in a field near [[Hutton Village]] in the 1960s did not find definite evidence of the leper hospital.<ref>{{PastScape|mnumber=27694|mname=St. Leonards Hospital|access-date=6 August 2011}}</ref>

The priory may also have owned a cell at Scarth Wood at [[Whorlton, North Yorkshire|Whorlton]]. A grant issued by Stephen de Meynell in the reign of [[Henry I of England|Henry I]] records the donation of the hamlet of Scarth to enable the priory to establish a cell for habitation by a single monk or canon. It is unclear whether the cell was built as Scarth is not mentioned in the priory's deeds or in Henry VIII's commissioners' valuation of its property. Fragmentary building remains at Scarth are recorded as existing in the mid-18th century. They were cleared by the start of the 19th century so there is no trace of whatever might once have stood there or indication of what it might have been used for.<ref>{{PastScape|mnumber=26813|access-date=6 August 2011}}</ref>