Penwortham Priory

Penwortham Priory
Penwortham Priory
Location within the Borough of South Ribble
General information
Architectural style	Jacobean
Town or city	Penwortham
Country	England
Coordinates	53°44′55″N 2°43′48″W / 53.7486°N 2.7299°W / 53.7486; -2.7299
Construction started	1535
Completed	1850s
Demolished	1920s
Client	Rawathorne Family
Technical details
Structural system	Brick
Design and construction
Architect	George Webster

Penwortham Priory was first a Benedictine priory and, after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a country house in the village of Penwortham, near Preston, Lancashire. The house was demolished as the village expanded into a town and a housing estate has replaced the mansion house and its grounds of which no trace remain.

Before 1086, William the Conqueror gave this area of Lancashire to his relative, Roger the Poitevin. A small castle was built on the hill in Penwortham overlooking the river crossing and the castle mound (the motte) can still be seen behind St Mary's church. Roger gave land to the Benedictine Evesham Abbey and a small daughter cell was built at Penwortham, starting in 1075. The priory, dedicated to Saint Mary, had no independence from Evesham but functioned until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1535.

The priory and its lands were sold to the Fleetwood family at a price of £3,088. The Fleetwoods built a mansion which became known as Penwortham Priory and lived there from the Dissolution until 1749.

The Rawsthorne family lived at the Priory from 1783 until it was demolished in 1925. The Rawsthornes employed architect, George Webster, to redesign the priory in the mid-19th century.

Penwortham Priory became a victim of the expansion of Penwortham in the 1920s, when it was demolished to make way for housing. The Lodge was taken down in 1912 and rebuilt in Moss Lane, Hutton.