Atherstone Priory

{{Short description|Priory in Warwickshire, England}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} [[File:St Mary's Church, Sheepy Road, Atherstone (NHLE Code 1365164) (August 2025) (5).jpg|200px|thumb|[[St Mary's Church, Atherstone|St Mary's Church]] chancel and tower remain from the medieval Atherstone Priory.]] '''Atherstone Priory''' was a priory in [[Atherstone]], [[Warwickshire]], England.

The first monastic site in Atherstone was an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] [[friary]] founded in the centre of the town in 1374 by [[Ralph Basset, 3rd Baron Basset of Drayton|Ralph, Lord Bassett of Drayton]]. [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], as he was to become, took communion there before the [[Battle of Bosworth]]. At the [[dissolution of the monasteries]] in 1538 the nave became the town's [[St Mary's Church, Atherstone|parish church of St Mary]], the chancel a grammar school and the remaining land leased to a Mr Cartwright.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stmarysatherstone.co.uk/historylesson.htm |title=St Mary’s Church Atherstone- History of the Building |accessdate=7 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141012020010/http://www.stmarysatherstone.co.uk/historylesson.htm |archivedate=12 October 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42667| title= Atherstone|publisher = British History Online|accessdate = 7 October 2014}}</ref>

In 1837–41 a new priory, known as the Convent of the Rosary, was built by [[Joseph Hansom]] in the east of the town for Dominican nuns. After several years of financial hardship they were obliged to sell it in 1857 to the Benedictine nuns of [[St Mary's Abbey, Colwich|St Benedict's Priory, Colwich]] as a daughter house. The new priory convent, dedicated to St Scholastica, was founded in 1859 when a group of 19 nuns moved to Atherstone from Colwich. The priory was enlarged in 1873, again by Hansom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.st-benedicts-atherstone.org/conventpriory.html |title=Atherstone Priory Convent |publisher=St Benedict's Church, Atherstone |accessdate=7 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011163235/http://www.st-benedicts-atherstone.org/conventpriory.html |archivedate=11 October 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.colwichabbey.org.uk/places/atherstone.htm |title=St. Scholastica's Priory, Atherstone, Warwickshire |accessdate=7 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011133124/http://www.colwichabbey.org.uk/places/atherstone.htm |archivedate=11 October 2014 }}</ref>

Faced by falling numbers and encouraged by the Vatican Council, St Scholastica's voted in 1966 to rejoin Colwich. On 31 July 1967 the eighteen members of the Atherstone community transferred to Colwich and the Atherstone property was sold. The graves of the nuns were moved to St Mary's churchyard and the building demolished. The site is now a housing estate.

==References== {{Reflist}}

[[Category:Monasteries in Warwickshire]] [[Category:Atherstone]] [[Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Warwickshire]]