Priory Park, Warwick

Priory Park is an urban park located in the centre of Warwick, England. Originally the land was the grounds of a 12th-century priory dedicated to St Sepulchre and built in 1124 but this was closed down by King Henry VIII during the dissolution of the Monasteries. It was then destroyed and a residential home was built in 1566 by a man named Thomas Fisher known as Hawkins. In the 17th century, the estate was owned by Sir Thomas Puckering, 1st Baronet and his heirs, including Sir Henry Puckering, 3rd Baronet who was MP for Warwickshire and then the borough of Warwick.

By 1850 the property had been taken over by the famous Warwickshire family, the Wises. During that year the Great Western Railway company were allowed to build an embankment to extend the line to Warwick station which was built in 1852 at the north-east of the estate. In 1926 Alexander W. Weddell, an American diplomat and his wife Virginia, a wealthy woman in her own right, purchased the property after seeing the advertisement that Priory House was to be demolished. They bought the house and shipped several thousand tons of the stones and other materials for the building of Virginia House, Richmond, Virginia in 1928. They signed the house to the Virginia Historical Society who still maintain it today. http://www.vahistorical.org/your-visit/virginia-house

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