Dunwich, Suffolk - Greyfriars Monastery

            The monastery was established by Franciscan monks, who first came to Dunwich in the 1250's and set up a monastic house near the harbour. A massive storm, on New Year's Eve in 1286, destroyed their building, along with much of the harbour facilities and many homes in the lower part of the town. The monks were then given land just outside the old town boundary to the west, half a mile from the sea, and started building the monastery whose ruins remains today. 
The standing ruins are believed to be those of the southern, refectory wing of the monastery, where the monks would have eaten. To the north was a cloister and beyond that the monastery church. This was very large, the nave and chancel together were some 58m long and up to 17m wide. The east and west sides of the cloister would have included accommodation for the monks, the abbot and guests and travellers. Dunwich  was not  a site of pilgrimage, but it was a major port and so would have seen many pilgrims needing food and shelter whilst en route to shrines abroad.
The monks probably built the church as their first priority, through the first half of the 14th. century, and followed with the remaining buildings through the rest of that century. At some point they enclosed the site with a perimeter wall, most of which is still standing, though much of it has been repaired and rebuilt over the centuries. There were three gates, one, now lost, on the east side leading towards the town and the other two on the west allowing access to the one of the principal roads into the medieval town. These gates are still standing. 
it is not know how many friars lived at Dunwich, though it was probably a substantial community in the early years. Through the 15th. century Dunwich was much impoverished after the destruction of the port, and it's likely that only a handful of friars remained here by the time of the Dissolution in 1539. The site passed initially into the ownership of Richard Ingworth, Bishop of Dover, who had been Thomas Cromwell's chief lieutenant in dissolving all the friaries in England. All of the valuable items were removed. Most of the stone (a scarce commodity in East Anglia) and the lead from the church roof were reused. The land turned over to agriculture. When the Downing family bought into the village in 1720 little more had survived than now remains. However the Downings used the structure as the basis for their own building, called The Place, and built a brick façade on the east face. This was successively used as a home, the Town Hall and a jail. 
The Barne family replaced the Downings in 1807 and demolished all the accretions of the previous century, leaving the central ruins much as they are now. They built a small stable block on the edge of the site, and rebuilt a substantial part of the south perimeter wall  in strips of flint and brick.
Dunwich Greyfriars Trust, established by the village in 2012 to own and manage the site, is now responsible for its maintenance.
The remains were classified on 25th. October 1951 as a Grade; II* listed building and most of the site as a Scheduled Monument.

   

Taken in: UK / England / Suffolk Coastal District / Dunwich (show map)

Taken on: November 16, 2020

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Greyfriars Monastery

Dunwich

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Grade: II* listed building « less

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