Ecclesfield Priory

Ecclesfield Priory stands in the village of Ecclesfield, north of Sheffield in Yorkshire. It was once a small Benedictine monastery linked to St Wandrille’s Abbey in Normandy. The site has no visible remains from before the 13th century, though records mention monks there as early as 1161. An outer wall uncovered in 1866 may date from the 12th century, but no further study has been made. The priory chapel and a nearby room survive within a later farmhouse called Ecclesfield Hall. The priory is worth visiting for its layered history and surviving medieval features. Between 1328 and 1385, seven priors are named, some removed for misconduct. After the Hundred Years’ War it passed to a Carthusian house in Coventry, then became a farmhouse in the 16th century. In 1691 an inventory listed rooms such as a chapel parlour, chapel chamber and old chapel. The building was restored in 1866 and is now Grade II* listed. Visitors find a sandstone building with a three-storey chapel block and a crosswing. The chapel retains original lancet windows, a piscina and an aumbry, plus a pointed doorway. A first-floor room has a barrel-vaulted ceiling with relief panels. The 17th-century windows and 19th-century restorations show different periods. The whole structure sits directly on bedrock near Ecclesfield Church.