Gresley Priory

Gresley Priory

Gresley Parish Church.
Location within Derbyshire
Monastery information
Full name	The Prior and Convent of Saint George.
Other names	Later, The Parish Church of Saint George and Saint Mary.
Order	Augustinian
Established	Between 1106 and 1135
Disestablished	1536
Dedicated to	Saint George
Diocese	Diocese of Lichfield
Controlled churches	Lullington, Derbyshire
People
Founder(s)	William De Gresley
Site
Location	Church Gresley, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom.
Coordinates	52°45′35″N 1°34′1″W / 52.75972°N 1.56694°W / 52.75972; -1.56694Coordinates: 52°45′35″N 1°34′1″W / 52.75972°N 1.56694°W / 52.75972; -1.56694
Visible remains	Part of present Parish Church

Gresley Priory was an Augustinian priory in Church Gresley, Derbyshire, England.

Founded in the 12th century, the priory church became the village's parish church of St George and St Mary following the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was the church that gave Church Gresley its name.

Excavations undertaken in 1861 reveal the priory's buildings were situated around a cloister to the south of the church; the refectory occupied the south range, and two chapter houses occupied spaces to the east of the cloister. Of the original 12th-century priory buildings, only the foundations of the church and lower section of the tower remain; this is due to large scale rebuilding works done around 1820. The church is Grade II* listed.

The Priory was founded by William De Gresley, of the neighbouring Castle Gresley, during the reign of King Henry I (1106-1135); it was to house a group of Augustinian canons and was dedicated to Saint George. As primary beneficiaries, the Gresley family would retain influence over the priory over the following centuries.

In the year 1245, a later William de Gresley gifted the advowson of the nearby Church of Lullington, Derbyshire to the Prior and his heirs in-return for "all the benefits and prayers which should henceforth take place in the conventual church of Gresley, for ever." This, and all other previous charters and gifts from the Gresley family to the Priory, were confirmed by Sir Geoffrey de Gresley in 1268; these included the grant of the mill at Castle Gresley to the priory. In 1291, Sir Geoffrey's grandson, another Geoffrey de Gresley assigned lands to the priory in the parish of Castle Gresley; the following years he made arrangements for one canon of the priory to sing mass for the soul of his wife Anneys.