Leominster Priory in Herefordshire is to celebrate the 900th anniversary of its Norman
nave with a multi-arts festival taking place from 14 June to 14 July 2025. Priory 900 will
include heritage walks and talks, art installations, craft workshops, dramas, concerts, and
church services. Schools, community groups and churches from the surrounding villages as
well as from Leominster itself will be involved. An illustrated timeline will explain 900
years of the Priory’s history and prompt thoughts about its future.
A major focus of the event will be a display in the Norman nave of eight actual-size replica
scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry, including one which is believed to depict the last Abbess
of Leominster – linking Leominster to ‘1066 and all that’. Students from Hereford College of
Arts and from the University of Worcester will produce work in a variety of media, inspired
by the Herefordshire School of Sculpture, the Bayeux Tapestry and characters from the
Priory’s history, such as Elizabeth, the ‘Holy Maid of Leominster’, to be displayed in
conjunction with the tapestry scenes.
A new film running throughout the festival period will look at how the Priory church has
changed in the 900 years since the Norman nave was built. Much has been added and much
has been lost, including its entire East End – originally the Norman church was double the
length that can be seen today, and ended in a rounded end, surrounded by chapels used by
pilgrims to pray at Leominster's famous relics. The film Priory Time Travel will give a
snapshot of the church as it is now, and how it would have been used, by monks and
pilgrims 900 years ago.
Another major strand will be an exploration of the remarkable Herefordshire School of
Romanesque Sculpture. This is represented in Leominster Priory by the Norman nave’s west
doorway and the window above it, which are of national importance and feature superb
examples of the elaborate carvings of animals, birds, human figures and foliage which
flourished in this area in the second quarter of the 12th century. Displays in key village
churches and in the Priory will explore the purpose, style, influences and key motifs of the
school.
Local artist Neil Ramsay, who has studied the stone sculptures of the Herefordshire School
for many years, will produce studies for display and for sale during the Priory 900 exhibition.
He will also share techniques for observing and drawing the carvings with children from
Orleton and Kimbolton St James Schools, to prepare them for a pilgrimage to the Priory
where they will create a collaborative artwork.
Students from Orleton, Shobdon and Leominster Primary Schools and Westfield Special
School will work with internationally renowned puppeteer and puppet maker Andrew
Purvin to create puppets based on Romanesque sculpture to be found near their schools,
which will be displayed in the exhibition and used in two festival performances. Members of
the public will also be able to access materials and create their own art when visiting the
exhibition, in particular on the opening day, 14 June, when the Llangarron Stone Carvers will
present a display inspired by sculpture from various churches and will run a ‘Have a Go’
demonstration for visitors of all ages.
Local stitching group Stitched Atlas Folk, led by textile artist and researcher Jackie Morris,
will create a large map of the places where carvings from the Herefordshire School can be
found, including Shobdon Arches and the font at Eardisley church not far from Leominster,
and Kilpeck Church in South Herefordshire which incorporates the most famous and
spectacular sculptures. Stitched Atlas Folk will also create needlework inspired by the
mysterious Aelfgyva, one of only three women portrayed in the main panel of the Bayeux
tapestry, and the theory that she may have been Abbess Eadgifu, reputedly abducted from
Leominster Priory in 1046 by the Saxon nobleman Sweyn Godwinson.
Architectural historian Robert Walker will explore the sculpture in the context of Norman
influence in the region and the parochia of the Priory in three ways: the launch of The
Normans in and Around Leominster, an illustrated booklet to guide interested visitors
around local churches (including a ‘Find Norman! hunt for children); two illustrated lectures;
and a day-long guided tour of local churches in July. Celebrated stone mason and author
Andrew Ziminsky will talk about ‘How to build a Priory’ and sign copies of his new book
Church Going.
A new edition of Joe and Caroline Hillaby’s 2006 book Leominster Minster, Priory and
Borough c.660–1539, incorporating information gleaned from recent archaeological
excavations, will be launched at the festival. Father Guy Cole, Vicar of Leominster, and Neil
Ramsay will lead an exterior tour of the Priory, looking at the site of its lost Norman east
end, followed by a celebration of Historic England’s restoration work on the Old Priory
buildings behind the church.
Leominster’s famous Ducking Stool, a medieval instrument of punishment which is the last
recorded to have been used in England and is housed in the Norman nave, will also be
celebrated in a ‘Hidden Histories Day’ for community groups.
Musical events will include a concert of choral classics from Herefordshire, Gloucestershire
and Worcestershire, performed by Leominster Choral Society; a unique presentation of 900
years of history by Leominster Morris, Priory Choir and History Society and Passamezzo Early
Dance; a programme of music demonstrating the continuing influence of our French
neighbours on English music, performed by Stuart Essenhigh, principal trumpet of the
English Symphony Orchestra, and organist Hilary Norris; and Music for a Norman Priory, in
which local a cappella consort Border Voices will be joined by medieval instruments to sing
music from the reigns of Henry I to Henry VIII.
Bell-ringing, poetry, workshops on illuminated lettering and on weaving, a talk on the
importance of plants and bees in medieval life, a Norman ceilidh, a quiet service of
Compline with plainsong and a lavish patronal festival service will be among other events.
The festival will conclude with 900 Years and Beyond, an entertaining play and church
service involving song, dance and drama performed by community groups, bringing key
moments of the town and Priory’s history to life.
Priory 900 includes a mix of free and paid-for events.
More information and booking: www.leominsterpriory.org.uk / www.prioryarts.org.uk
Priory 900 is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, UK Shared Prosperity Fund,
The Elmley Foundation, The Harley Charity, The Rowlands Trust, The William A. Cadbury
Trust and the Friends of Leominster Priory.
Press and media enquiries, interview and additional photo requests to:
Clare Stevens, Publicity Officer, Priory 900
media@pa.org.uk
07968 367079 (mobile)
NOTES FOR EDITORS
1. Leominster is a market town in Herefordshire, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Lugg
and Kenwater, 12 miles north of Hereford and seven miles south of Ludlow. It has a
population of 11,700. The town takes its name, pronounced and sometimes spelled
‘Lemster’. From the English word minster, meaning a community of clergy, and the original
Celtic name for the district ‘Leon’ or ‘Lene’, from an Old Welsh verb ‘to flow’, a reference to
its island setting. The area was renowned in medieval times for its Ryeland sheep; income
from the wool trade led to the town’s prosperity. www.leominstertourism.com
2. The Priory Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, Church Street, Leominster HR6 8NH, is in
the Church of England Diocese of Hereford and is part of the Leominster Team Ministry,
which includes 23 churches in the town and surrounding villages. Revd Guy Cole is Team
Rector for the Leominster Team Ministry. Priory Arts is a subcommittee of the Parish Church
Council of Leominster Priory www.leominsterpriory.org.uk
3. The origins of Leominster Priory lie in a Celtic church founded in 660 AD by St Eadfrith, a
missionary monk from Lindisfarne in Northumberland. It was the first great minster to be
founded in Herefordshire, predating Hereford Cathedral. In 1125 King Henry I refounded the
monastery as a priory church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, a dependency of Reading
Abbey in Berkshire. This is the anniversary that is being celebrated this year. At first the
parishioners of the town used the Norman nave built at this time for their services, but
conflicts between the secular congregation and the monks led first to the building of the
Forbury Chapel, still to be seen a few hundred metres away in Church Street, and then to the
construction at the priory of a new parochial nave to the south of the Norman nave,
consecrated in 1239. This was extended a century later with the addition of a magnificent
south aisle in the Decorated style, later embellished with the west tower and west window.
Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries from 1539 saw the destruction of many of the
Priory’s monastic buildings and the loss of most of its stained glass and images of Christ, the
Virgin Mary and angels. A fire in the seventeenth century destroyed the remaining medieval
art in the church, with the exception of a thirteenth century Wheel of Life wall painting still
visible in the vestry, and some of the sculptures.
4. The Norman church would have extended a long way beyond its current altar and modern
east window. There would have been a chancel surrounded by aisle and radiating smaller
chapels, and transepts stretching behind the end wall of the south nave and aisle and out
into the present car park on the north. This was the holy sanctuary where the monastic
offices and masses were celebrated, and from which the public were excluded.
5. Galleries were added to the south nave and aisle in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
but were removed as part of a reordering planned by the eminent architect George Gilbert
Scott in the 1860s. A further reordering in this century created the St Paul’s Chapel as an
intimate worship space and brought the nave altar and choirstalls closer to the
congregation. Additional work to improve access between the various spaces of the church
is planned as part of the Priory Futures project. www.leominsterpriory.org.uk/priory-
futures-project/
6. Leominster Priory’s fine pipe organ was built in 1924 by Nicholson & Co (Worcester) Ltd, to
a specification by Dr J C Bridge, organist of Chester Cathedral, housed in the 1737 case and
retaining pipes of the 32' pedal stop. It was placed in the south aisle, set to face into what is
now St Paul’s Chapel, with a new matching face to the west. In 1947 the organ was
overhauled, some additions made, and the old console was replaced by a new remote
console in its present position beneath the second arch of the Norman south arcade. It was
restored in 2015-2016, with further refurbishment in 2024, particularly to the console, which
was equipped with electronic playing aids.
7. About The National Lottery Heritage Fund
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You can download the leaflet aboout all the events that will be happening here.