Merton Priory Museum opened

St Thomas Becket with King Henry II 14century. Image: British Library public domain

Merton Priory, in south London, near Colliers Wood, was a major Augustinian house from 1117 - 1538 AD. One of its students was Saint Thomas Becket. The only English Pope, Adrian IV, also studied here. The Priory founded Holyrood Abbey, refined Magna Carta into the Eleven Statutes of Merton and established Merton College, Oxford. Two royal coronations took place at Merton: Eleanor of Provence in 1236, and Henry VI in 1437.

With a church nave longer than Westminster Abbey, this monastic complex was one of the largest and most important in England and a major provider of employment, education and social welfare for the surrounding community for more than 400 years.

Its work ended abruptly at the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538 on the orders of Henry VIII. The superstructure of the church was demolished and some of the stones used in the construction of nearby Nonsuch Place.

But the foundations of the monastery complex, excavated by archaeologists most recently in the 1980s, remain largely intact - hidden underneath a bypass near a Sainsbury's supermarket.

For years, Friends of Merton Priory have been holding prayer services and occasional concerts at the site, and campaigning for a heritage and information centre to be established there.

This year, finally their plans were realised. Merton Priory Chapter House Heritage Museum has been completed and is open every Sunday between 11am and 4pm, until 27 October 27 2024.

Admission is free (though donations are welcome), and young people of all ages will enjoy our complete virtual model of the Priory on Minecraft.

LINKS

Merton Priory Museum: www.mertonpriory.org/

Thomas Becket at Merton Priory: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBkkN-hl5GM&t=11s

Merton Priory - History Unearthed: www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAOUxRFqU4c&t=11s

Spem in Album sung at Merton Priory Chapter House: www.youtube.com/watch?v=k65Neh5nTd4&t=75s