Uploaded May 2012 | Updated September 2026, 44 minutes ago
Boxgrove Priory - 1000 years of history
Boxgrove Priory was founded in about 1066 by Robert de Haye, who bestowed the church of St. Mary of Boxgrove upon the Benedictine Abbey of Lessay in 1105. The Domesday Book mentions that Boxgrove had the status of a parish and that a church existed before the Norman Conquest. All traces of this were obliterated by the Priory, linked to the Abbey of Lessay in Normandy and the great Benedictine Abbey of Bec.
By 1187 there were around 15 monks living in the Priory, providing alms to visitors. The well preserved ruins of the 14th century lodging house still remain to the north. The priory is managed by English Heritage who maintain its current state of peaceful decay to ensure it can be enjoyed by future visitors. The adjacent Boxgrove Priory Church
dates from the early twelfth century, dedicated to St Mary and to St Blaise, and opens daily in daylight hours. For 900 years Boxgrove villagers worshipped in this magnificent building and its glory is still much in evidence, despite losing the west end of the Priory during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII. The church features a stained glass window near the altar of Billy Fiske, a WWII Hurricane fighter pilot killed during the Battle of Britain.
Boxgrove Priory - 1000 years of history
Boxgrove Priory was founded in about 1066 by Robert de Haye, who bestowed the church of St. Mary of Boxgrove upon the Benedictine Abbey of Lessay in 1105. The Domesday Book mentions that Boxgrove had the status of a parish and that a church existed before the Norman Conquest. All traces of this were obliterated by the Priory, linked to the Abbey of Lessay in Normandy and the great Benedictine Abbey of Bec.
By 1187 there were around 15 monks living in the Priory, providing alms to visitors. The well preserved ruins of the 14th century lodging house still remain to the north. The priory is managed by English Heritage who maintain its current state of peaceful decay to ensure it can be enjoyed by future visitors. The adjacent Boxgrove Priory Church
dates from the early twelfth century, dedicated to St Mary and to St Blaise, and opens daily in daylight hours. For 900 years Boxgrove villagers worshipped in this magnificent building and its glory is still much in evidence, despite losing the west end of the Priory during the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII. The church features a stained glass window near the altar of Billy Fiske, a WWII Hurricane fighter pilot killed during the Battle of Britain.
