Mount Grace Priory North Yorkshire
Founded in 1398, Mount Grace was the last monastery to be established in Yorkshire before the Protestant Reformation. Today, over 600 years after its inception (and 450 after its abandonment) the priory stands as the best preserved of ten Carthusian charterhouses built in England.
Location and map
Mount Grace is situated 10km East North East of Northallerton and 2km North West of Osmotherly. It is on the most Western border of the North York Moors National Park. Please see our map to Mount Grace Priory for more detail.
Isolated monks confinedNestled at the feet of the Cleveland Hills and positioned miles away from the nearest town, Mount Grace's isolation was purposeful. Contra to other communal denominations, such as the Cistercians, Augustinians and Benedictines, the Carthusian Order demanded then, as it does today, a strict hermitic lifestyle.
Each of the 23 monks at Mount Grace was to spend the majority of his hours confined in his own cell. Each cell consisted of two floors and a small garden. The rooms were even fitted with an angled hatch, purposefully designed to prevent the monks from seeing who brought them their meals. Lay brothers carried out all manual labour on the site and visitors were discouraged.
The monks only came together for three of the daily offices and abided by a vow of silence at all times. Such a rigorous routine proved too much for some, but desertion wasn't tolerated and any escapees intercepted were incarcerated in the prison block.
Dissolution ment change to Mount Grace
After 1539 and the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the site went untended for over a hundred years. In 1654, Thomas Lascelles converted the adjacent Guest Hall into a grand manor house, but nothing was done for the priory. Today, the signs of neglect are clear to see, but the site's entire foundational layout is still clearly defined.
One cell was left for us
In addition, one cell, along with its herb garden, has been completely reconstructed. This allowed visitors to appreciate just how confined the monks' lives were. Also revamped are the original springhouses, which were used to convey the priory's water supply from the nearby hillside. However, the site's best-surviving structure is its diminutive church, which has managed to retain its archetypal structure throughout centuries of disuse.
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Today it is a haven and tourist attraction
The Guest Hall now serves as the entrance, shop and exhibition centre. Its gardens received some remodelling in the early 20th century and are now a haven for wildlife, including families of geese, ducks and stoats. The entire area, despite being just a few hundred yards from the A19, is one of peace and tranquillity. The local scenery is breathtaking, with beds of daffodils and rows of blossoming trees decorating the environment at ground level. Some postulate that the atmosphere here has scarcely altered in 600 years.
Local exhibitions and artifacts to see
As well as the permanent artefacts, the Great Hall also plays host to numerous and diverse exhibitions of local art. The priory is open Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday all year round - from 10am-6pm (April to September), and 10am-4pm (October to March).
More info on Mount Grace Priory
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