Mattersey Priory

Mattersey Priory is a medieval monastic site in Mattersey, Nottinghamshire, where stone remains mark the locations of several buildings. The ruins include the church foundations, arches from the canons' dining hall, kitchen structures, and fragments of a fifteenth-century tower.

Roger FitzRalph founded this Gilbertine monastery in 1185, which operated for roughly 350 years. The community was dissolved in 1538 when the monastery was seized during England's monasteries closure.

The priory belonged to the Gilbertines, England's only homegrown monastic order, which had its own unique Rule adapted to English religious life. The community housed between six and ten male canons who lived according to these locally developed principles.

The site is a scheduled monument situated roughly a mile from Mattersey village, best reached on foot along Abbey Road. There are no facilities or visitor amenities at the ruins themselves, so planning ahead is advisable.

The priory occupied a gravel island within the River Idle surrounded by marshland, a remote location deliberately chosen to support the community's spiritual isolation. This geographic setting would have shaped daily life and the monks' relationship with their natural environment.

Location: Mattersey

Inception: 12 century

Website: https://english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/mattersey-priory

GPS coordinates: 53.39820,-0.94369

Latest update: December 14, 2025 09:44