Abbeys & priories
Abbeys
Abbeys are churches which are (or were) associated with a community of monks or nuns. Many abbeys were once self-supporting, and from the 8th century were often important centres of learning and peaceful arts. The church was part of a complex including a dormitory, refectory and guesthouse, arranged around a courtyard. Depending upon which religious 'order' they were a part of, some were ornate, others quite bare.
Priories
The only difference between a priory and an abbey was that the head of a priory was known as a prior, and that of an abbey was known as an abbot. Priories were originally offshoots from the larger abbeys and continued to be subordinate to the abbey associated with them. The actual distinction between abbeys and priories was lost during the Renaissance.
Britain's finest abbeys and priories
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey (www.westminster-abbey.org) in
Westminster, London, is a great and beautiful church. Royal weddings and coronations have been held here since the crowning of William the Conqueror in 1066. However, it's not actually a cathedral, as it doesn't contain a bishop's throne.
Hexham Abbey
Hexham Abbey (www.hexhamabbey.org.uk/) is a beautiful and unusual church, mainly dating from Norman times, but an earlier 7th-century Saxon crypt, apse and some remarkable stone carvings still remain. Roman carvings in walls 'recycled' from abandoned Roman sites in this area close to
Hadrian's Wall testify to even earlier origins.
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