Bromholm Priory Gates - Bacton, Norfolk
Posted by: SMacB
N 52° 50.796 E 001° 29.043
31U E 397907 N 5856282
The gates to Bromholm Priory from Abbey Street, Bacton.
Waymark Code: WMQT0A
Location: Eastern England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/25/2016
Views: 2
The gates of Bromholm Abbey viewed looking south from Abbey Street, 1933/2016.
"Probably the most well documentd part of Bacton's past is the, now ruined, Broomholm Priory. Founded in 1113 by William de Glanville for monks of the order of Cluni, it was dedicated to St. Andrew. The priory was remarkable for its reputed possession of a 'little cross' said to have been made by St. Helena from part of the Saviour's cross where his hands and feet were nailed.
The ‘Cross of Our Lord’ brought prosperity to Bromholm upon its arrival in 1223. Soon afterwards ‘Divine Miracles’ began to occur. According to Capgrave, nineteen blind men had their sight restored and thirty-nine men were raised from the dead by the power of the cross. Such miracles brought fame across the known world and Bromholm became a focus for Pilgrims.
The priory was one of the largest places of pilgrimage in East Anglia until 1536 when Henry VIII dissolved the abbeys.
At the dissolution of the monasteries the Priory was granted to Sir Thomas Wodehouse of Waxham. The Paston family were also patrons of the Priory. Sir John Paston, upon his death in 1466, was brought from London to Bromholm to be buried amid much pomp and ceremony.
Extensive remains still stand, although now used as a farm storage area. The Church was originally 200ft long, 50 ft wide with trancepts 90ft across. There is also rumoured to be the remains of a secret tunnel linking the Priory with St. Margaret’s Church, complete with golden gates in existence."
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