# Horsham St Faith Priory

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Monastery in Norfolk, England

Extant remains of St Faith's Priory: the former [refectory](/source/Refectory) incorporated into a private residence

**St Faith's Priory, Horsham**, otherwise **Horsham St Faith Priory**, was a [Benedictine](/source/Benedictine) monastery in [Horsham St Faith](/source/Horsham_St_Faith), [Norfolk](/source/Norfolk), England.

## History

The monastery was founded at Kirkscroft in [Horsford](/source/Horsford) in 1105 by [Robert Fitz-Walter](/source/Robert_fitz_Walter_of_Horsham) and Sybil his wife, daughter and heiress of Ralph de Cheney, as a dependent priory of [Conques Abbey](/source/Abbey_Church_of_Sainte-Foy) in [Midi-Pyrénées](/source/Midi-Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9es) in France, and, like the abbey, dedicated to [Saint Faith](/source/Saint_Faith). It was thus an [alien priory](/source/Alien_priory). The site in Horsford proved unsatisfactory, and the foundation moved to Horsham instead. The priory was endowed with income from an unusually high number of churches (23 in Norfolk, 14 in Suffolk, and one in London).[1]

In 1390, the prior and the 8 monks that formed the then community were granted [denization](/source/Denization), and the priory from that time forwards was independent of Conques and regarded as an English house. For this reason, it was not affected by the Act of 1414 that enabled [Henry V](/source/Henry_V_of_England) to confiscate the alien priories, but survived until the [Dissolution of the Monasteries](/source/Dissolution_of_the_Monasteries) in 1536.[1]

## Description

The church and other buildings are no longer extant, but the [refectory](/source/Refectory) (or frater) was converted into a house and survives as Abbey Farmhouse.[2]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-vch_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-vch_1-1) [British History Online: Victoria County History – 'Houses of Benedictine monks: The priory of St Faith, Horsham', in *A History of the County of Norfolk: Volume 2*, ed. William Page (London, 1906), pp. 346–349](http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/norf/vol2/pp346-349)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** [Heritage Gateway: Historic England Research Records – St Faith's Priory](https://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=132901&resourceID=19191)

## See also

- [List of monastic houses in Norfolk](/source/List_of_monastic_houses_in_Norfolk)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Horsham St Faith Priory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsham_St_Faith_Priory) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsham_St_Faith_Priory?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.