Norton Priory: monks, a saint, a water-goddess and open-arses

Funny how you can live somewhere for forty years and never know that there’s something interesting on your doorstep.  Looking for somewhere with a walk gentle enough for the elder of our party, I remembered reading something about a sculpture trail at Norton Priory near Runcorn.

So, on a grey, damp and chilly Bank Holiday Monday, we moseyed over to see what was there was to see.  The sculpture trail is nothing special, but the remains of the Priory were a big surprise: as a result of archaeological excavations conducted in the 1970s and 1980s, this is one of the most extensively investigated religious foundations in Europe.

Founded in 1134, the Priory remained active until its dissolution in April 1536. Within eight years of the dissolution, it was sold to the Brooke family, who owned it for over 400 years. In 1966, the site of the Priory, by then in a state of considerable decay, was given to the Runcorn Development Corporation by Sir Richard Brooke. Very little of the medieval priory remained visible, and it was decided to excavate and display the ruins as a public amenity.

The excavations revealed the foundations and lower parts of the walls of the monastery buildings and the abbey church (above). A viewing platform (with audio commentary) now enables visitors to gain a clear impression of the scale of the site.  There were other important finds during the dig, including a Norman Romanesque archway, now placed at the entrance to the Undercroft – a finely carved arcade with a floor of medieval  mosaic tiles, the largest floor area of this type to be found in any modern excavation (below).

The Undercroft (below) was built in the late 12th century as a storage area for the Priory and used to store food, drink, cloth and plate. In 1868 Sir Richard Brooke turned part of the Undercroft into an impressive entrance hall to the family home.

Also discovered during the excavation were the remains of the kiln where the tiles were fired; a bell pit used for casting the church bell; and a large medieval statue of Saint Christopher, thought to date from 1391. It is made from sandstone, but in medieval times would probably have been brightly painted in many colours. The medieval belief was that anyone who saw St Christopher would be saved from death for that day – comforting at a time when roads were beset by thieves and crossing the river Mersey was dangerous.

The presence of the statue at Norton Priory is almost certainly related to the fact that the canons received one tenth of the profits from the ferry that crossed the Mersey at this point. The Priory was established on the south bank of the River Mersey where the river bends and narrows to form the Runcorn Gap. At the time this was the only practical site where the Mersey could be crossed between Warrington and Birkenhead (it’s significantly narrower here than at the point where the Runcorn Bridge now spans the Mersey).

After dissolution in 1536 the statue was sold as part of the property. It’s unusual that the statue survived, given that a large number of images of saints were destroyed during the Reformation or, later, in the Civil War. Somehow, this statue escaped destruction, and was used as a garden ornament by the Brookes, finally being abandoned in the gardens after the 1920s.  In the 1960s the Brooke family gave the statue to the Liverpool Museums, which carried out some conservation work before returning it to Norton Priory on permanent loan.

The monastic drain

The Priory ruins are a now a scheduled ancient monument and have been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building. They are considered to be the most important monastic remains in Cheshire.  They consist of the Church (where the St Christopher statue was probably displayed), the Cloister, Chapter House and Dormitory, and the latrines.  Monasteries and priories were one of the few places in medieval England that would have had toilets.  Those at the Priory would probably have been drop toilets – simple holes which opened straight onto the sewer. Water would flow along the drain at the bottom, regulated by a sluice. Kitchen waste and water from the roof would also pass into the drain which would eventually be washed into the mill pond.

In early October 1536, commissioners arrived at the abbey in order to close it down during the dissolution of the monasteries. A riot ensued, with the commissioners being menaced by around 300 local people. After barricading themselves in a tower, the commissioners were eventually relieved by the local militia. The abbot and four of the canons were arrested and imprisoned in Halton Castle, the ruins of which can be seen from the Priory viewing platform.

Nine years later the surviving structures were purchased by Sir Richard Brooke, who built a Tudor house on the site, incorporating part of the abbey, which became known as Norton Hall.  This engraving shows the Tudor Hall in 1727.

At some time in the next 30 years the Tudor house was demolished and replaced by a new house in Georgian style. The ground floor of the west wing of this house retained the former vaulted undercroft of the west range of the medieval abbey, and contained the kitchens and areas for the storage of wines and beers (below).

Today the site is bounded to the west by the Bridgewater canal and bisected by the Daresbury Expressway. New transport technology began to encroach in the mid-18th century, when Sir Richard Brooke was involved in a campaign to prevent the Bridgewater Canal from being built through his estate. Sir Richard did not see the necessity for the canal and opposed its passing though his estate. In 1773 the canal was opened from Manchester to Runcorn except for 1 mile through the estate, so that goods had to be unloaded and carted around it. Sir Richard eventually capitulated, and the canal was completed by 1776.  In the 19th century, new railway lines were built across part of the estate, while in 1894 the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal meant the northern part of the estate could only be accessed by a swing bridge.

The Brooke family left the house in 1921, and it was almost completely demolished in 1928. Rubble from the house was used in the foundations of a new chemical works. In 1966 the present Sir Richard Brooke gave Norton Priory in trust for the benefit of the public.  The site was opened to the public in the 1970s. It includes a museum, the excavated ruins, and the surrounding garden and woodland, with the sculpture trail. In 1984 the Georgian walled garden was restored and opened to the public.  Yesterday, at the end of summer, it was looking a little faded, but there were still some colourful displays, alongside autumnal berries, hips and haws and seed heads (above).

Among the most striking pieces on the sculpture trail are Gate by Diane Gorvin (set in one of the perimeter walls of the walled garden) and The Kneeling Monk by Thomas Dagnall (below).

On the woodland trail, standing in a slow-moving stream, we found Coventina by Philip Bews (below).  I learned that Coventina was a Celtic goddess of wells and springs, revered for healing and renewal.

In the woodland area there is an old orchard where pears were grown in the early 20th century, not for eating but for the juice which was used to dye khaki cloth. There are also over 20 varieties of quince trees. The quince (below) is a pear-shaped fruit with a greenish-yellow skin and a spicy scent. It is not eaten fresh but can is boiled with sugar to produce quince jam or jelly.

Alongside the quince I found some medlar trees.  It’s a strange and rather unappetising-looking fruit (below), one of the rose sub-family that also includes apples, pears and quinces.  Because of the appearance of the fruit, which retains the sepals and has a hollow crowned appearance, it was once used euphemistically to refer to the anus (‘open-arse’) or  female genitalia (‘open tail’).  Which explains this, from Romeo and Juliet:

Now will he sit under a medlar tree,
And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit
As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.
O Romeo, that she were, O that she were
An open-arse and thou a poperin pear!

(The tapering poperin pear being a euphemism for the penis.)

The things you learn from a ramble in the Cheshire countryside!