Witham Friary
| Witham Friary | |
|---|---|
 Church of St Mary, Witham Friary |
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 Witham Friary
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| Witham Friary shown within Somerset | |
| Population | 399 (2011) |
| OS grid reference | ST745409 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | FROME |
| Postcode district | BA11 5 |
| Dialling code | 01373 |
| Police | Avon and Somerset |
| Fire | Devon and Somerset |
| Ambulance | South Western |
| EU Parliament | South West England |
| UK Parliament | |
Witham Friary is a small English village and civil parish located between the towns of Frome and Bruton in the county of Somerset. It is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the ancient Forest of Selwood.
The parish was part of the hundred of Frome.
The village takes its name from the Witham charterhouse, a Carthusian Priory founded in 1182 by Henry II, which had peripheral settlements including one at Charterhouse and possibly another at Green Ore. It is reputed to be the first Carthusian house in England. One of only nine Carthusian Houses, the priory did not survive the Dissolution of the Monasteries. At the dissolution it was worth £227; the equivalent of £52,000 today (2006). Excavations in 1921 revealed buttressed wall foundations and building rubble including glazed roof and floor tiles. It is a scheduled ancient monument.
Part of the priory now serves as St Mary's Parish Church. Although the original building dates from around 1200 it was altered in a transitional style in 1828, and then rebuilt and extended 1875 by William White in "Muscular Gothic" style. It has a three-bay nave and continuous one bay apsidal chancel, built of local limestone rubble, supported on each side by four massive flying buttresses. The plastered interior is entered through a Norman style doorway. Inside the church is a scraped octagonal font dating from around 1450. The Jacobean pulpit contains medieval work and there is a royal arms of 1660 at the west end. The stained glass windows contain fragments of medieval glass, with those in the south being made by Sir Ninian Comper. It has been designated by English Heritage as a Grade I listed building.
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