Monks Kirby Priory

Monks Kirby Priory was a priory in Monks Kirby, Warwickshire, England.

It was founded in 1077 at what was then known as Kirkbury, by the Breton, Geoffrey de Wirche (or Guerche), who had been granted lands in the area as a reward for his support of William of Normandy.^[1] He granted some of his land and tithes, together with the church of Kirkbury and two priests, to establish a cell or priory of Benedictine monks subject to the abbey of St. Nicholas at Angers.

It was temporarily annexed to the Carthusian priory at Axholm in 1396, but afterwards restored to Angers in 1399. In 1414 King Henry V again granted it to Axholm. When the monasteries were dissolved in 1538 in the Reformation, the priory was given by the King to Thomas Manning, Bishop of Ipswich. The property then changed hands several times over the course of the following 80 years until it came into the hands of the Fielding family, the Earls of Denbigh, with whom it descended for many years.

The priory church evolved into the parish church of St Edith, Monks Kirby, which is a grade I listed building.^[2]

References

1. "A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 2". British History Online. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
2. "Name: CHURCH OF ST EDITH List entry Number: 1034855". English Heritage. Retrieved 16 October 2014.

Coordinates: 52°26′40″N 1°19′12″W / 52.4444°N 1.3199°W