Derby Cluniac Priory

Derby Cluniac Priory once stood on the north side of St James’s Street in the centre of Derby, beside the Markeaton Brook. A chapel dedicated to St James had existed on the site since Saxon times. In the 11th century Earl Waltheof gave the chapel to Benedictine monks from Bermondsey Abbey, who built a priory there. King Stephen confirmed the gift around 1140. The Corporation of Derby paid the priory two pounds of wax each year for the right to cross St James Bridge, which the monks had constructed. The priory ran a hospital for the poor and unwell in the 13th century. In 1279 the Abbot of Cluny sent inspectors who found the prior and one monk living well, while the second monk was expelled for misconduct. The buildings were mostly in good repair except the church roof, and the priory owed £4 10s. Tax records from 1291 describe the priory as ‘slenderly endowed’, with an annual income of £5 8s 4d. Prior Peter later lost two court cases against local chaplains over tithes and property. Today no visible remains of the priory survive. The site has been built over many times since the Dissolution. In 1829 it housed the King’s Head Inn. Excavations have uncovered a large key, human bones and an incised grave slab. The priory’s history is still recalled through these small finds and the name of St James’s Street.