Ruins Of Grace Dieu Priory

The ruins of Grace Dieu Priory are the remnants of an Augustinian nunnery founded around 1240 by Roesia de Verdun. Most of the surviving details date from the 15th to 17th centuries. The structure is built of random rubble stone with ashlar dressings and has no roofs remaining. The layout is now unclear, but fragments of walls survive, reaching up to two storeys in height, with some taller chimneys.

At the northeast end, there is a block featuring a gabled east wall and a wide, 4-centred moulded 15th-century arch at the east end, along with a buttress and some moulded window surrounds that include fragments of tracery. Running south and west from this block is a long wall, likely part of the dormitory range, which has irregular door and window openings. Some of these openings retain moulded stone dressings and chamfered 4-centred stone fireplace arches.

At the southwest end, there is a tall 17th-century chimney stack, primarily made of brick with stone dressings, which includes the remains of two square shafts. The fireplaces have stone jambs, with the lower fireplace featuring a segmental brick arch and an oven. There is another chimney adjacent to this. Other remains of the priory do not have any surviving features. After the Dissolution, the priory became the home of the Beaumont family and was later the childhood home of the early 17th-century dramatist Francis Beaumont. The site is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument No 14.