On a hot and sunny afternoon, the Local History Group enjoyed the cool inside Lancaster Priory as we were given a tour by one of our u3a members who is also a tour guide.
Valerie told us about the long and fascinating history of the Priory; that there has been a building on the site since Roman times, initially a fort then later, a church. By the Saxon times the building was a church and consequently ancient artefacts are often unearthed and the archaeologists called in. Valerie's favourite is a Saxon font. The Victorian font has a cover which probably was not the original one.
The church porch is actually a later addition, the inner door is Norman and has been moved several times. The chandeliers are 18th century and the candles are still lit on special occasions such as weddings and Christmas making the church even more special.
There are ancient flags hanging in the military chapel which cannot be moved because they are so fragile and at least one was at the Battle of Waterloo.
There are many beautiful things in the Priory, but some of the most remarkable are in the Choir where the carvings above the stalls date to 1345 and which deeply impressed Pevsner, the architectural historian. We also examined the wonderfully carved mediaeval misericords; admired the magnificent cathedra, the bishop's seat which denotes that the church is a cathedral. Unfortunately, in 1926 when the new diocese was set up, Blackburn was chosen instead of Lancaster as the cathedral and therefore Lancaster has a cathedra but no bishop. The most recent window was in stalled in 1966 and is of Thomas Beckett.
All the time we were in there the organ was playing, rehearsing for an important service the following week. The acoustics in the Priory are second only to York Minster and there are two sets of organ pipes which means it can be played in stereo!
There are many leaflets available about the Priory in there and I would urge you to pay it a visit, especially if you missed the tour, as there is so much to see and appreciate. I would like to thank Valerie for giving us such an interesting insight, and we may visit it again next year.