Mount Grace Priory

Recently we made a half-day trip to Mount Grace Priory. On our way to the priory, we stopped by at Thirsk, a small market town for breakfast. With limited choices of the place to eat in the early morning, we tried Upstairs Downstairs Tearooms Deli & Sandwich Bar. We were the first customer of the day and the only customer almost all the time we were there. We got a table by the window overlooking the Market Place, the central plaza of Thirsk that looked still sleepy with some morning delivery vans and some people. 

I wasn't sure what I wanted to eat that morning. I had porridge with banana and local honey as a healthy choice. J ordered scrambled egg with chorizo on toast. He seemed to be happy with it. We also had a cup of tea, of course.

Mount Grace Priory was just about 15 minute drive from the breakfast place. It was founded in 1398 by Richard II’s nephew Thomas de Holland, and now is said to be the best preserved Carthusian priory in England. There were only nine Carthusian monasteries in medieval England. 

There used to be 25 individual cells. Carthusian monks are known with their solitary, "near-hermitc" lives. In Middle Ages, they lived in one of the isolated cells and spent the day, working and reading according to a strict timetable. There was a L-shape hatch beside the door that lay brothers used to pass food and drink through to the monk inside without seeing each other. Interesting.

There was a reconstructed monk's cell. At the entrance of the cell, we were greeted by a little bat that was too weak to keep hanging upside down from the ceiling. What a surprise! The private garden inside of the cell would provide monks not only herbs, vegetables and flowers but also was a spiritual metaphor for Paradise. Today's recreated garden was pretty and neat! 

There was a manor house building, that was originally the priory guest house and later was converted into a home in the 17th century. We couldn't see the inside, though. Actually a part of the house is an English Heritage holiday cottage. You can stay overnight and wake up with the beautiful view of the ruins and garden. 

 

We saw a couple of swans in the garden pond. One of them made a pose for us!

What a lovely visit!