Bungay Bitesize – A visit to the Benedictine Priory

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Local Historian Christopher Reeve steps back yin time to explore Bungay’s historyexplor sto

St. Mary’s Church and the Priory buildings have recently been covered with the most extensive scaffolding we’ve ever seen in Bungay, while renovations are carried out. Trenches dug on the south side of the churchyard have revealed foundations which, it’s conjectured, may be the remains of the Benedictine Priory cloisters. They provided a walkway from the Priory dwellings to a door in the south wall of the church, through which the nuns processed to attend special services and Saints’ Days celebrations. Bungay people rarely saw the Prioress and nuns, as they remained hidden away behind the high flint and rubble walls which still partially survive in St. Mary’s Street and Trinity Street. The more ancient parish church of Holy Trinity was the town’s regular place of worship. So the town residents were particularly eager to attend some of the ‘red-letter day’ services, great excitement prevailing as they watched the black cloaked and veiled ladies slowly and silently enter into the nave, and assemble in the sanctuary area. In the mediaeval period, all aspects of the church were believed to be sacred and vested with supernatural powers, and superstitious townsfolk sometimes stole water from the holy water stoups, or font, believing it had healing powers to cure an ailing relative or sick pig. Even to be in close proximity to the nuns conferred a blessing, and if a flowing robe happened to brush against you in the aisle, it was viewed as a ‘Godsend’, to boast of to all your kindred. The Benedictine sisters conferred many charitable benefits for the local needy. The Priory buildings included an infirmary for tending the sick, education was provided for both boys and girls, scraps from the sisters’ meals were doled out to the poor from a wall-door in St. Mary’s Street, and cast-off clothing was also given away. So when eventually the nuns were obliged to vacate their premises, during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, there was much anguish, not just because of their charities, but because they had exerted a protective spiritual presence over the whole community. It’s hoped that, if archaeological excavations are planned, they may provide precise evidence of the location and extent of the cloisters, in this most hallowed area of our town.

Entrance doorway to the Nuns' Chapel of the Benedictine Priory