Merton Priory
A ceiling boss from the Priory, discovered in excavations of Nonsuch Palace, on display in the Museum of London.
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 Location within Greater London
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| Monastery information | |
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| Established | 1114 |
| Disestablished | 1538 |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey |
| Important associated figures |
Adrian IV Thomas Becket Walter de Merton |
| Site | |
| Location | Merton, Surrey, England |
| Coordinates | 51°24′52.26″N 0°10′52.58″W / 51.4145167°N 0.1812722°WCoordinates: 51°24′52.26″N 0°10′52.58″W / 51.4145167°N 0.1812722°W |
Merton Priory was an English Augustinian priory founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under King Henry I (1100-1135). It was situated within the manor of Merton in the county of Surrey, in what is today the Colliers Wood area in the London Borough of Merton.
The priory buildings were situated within the Diocese of Southwark and at the point where the River Wandle was crossed by Stane Street, a Roman road, about 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) outside the City of London. It held cultivated land and pastures there and at other places in Surrey and held manors and other lands elsewhere in England including Teign (Canons' Teign) in Devon.
By 1117 the foundation had been colonised by Canons Regular from the Augustinian priory at Huntingdon and re-sited in Merton, close to Wandle.
The priory became an important centre of learning and was entered by Nicholas Breakspeare in 1125 (who became Adrian IV, the first English Pope, in 1154), and Thomas Becket in 1130.
Walter de Merton, Lord Chancellor, Bishop of Rochester, and founder of Merton College, Oxford, took his name from the Priory, having been educated there in the 1230s.
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