Bromholm Priory Reconstruction

3D Model

Bromholm Priory was founded by William de Glanville in 1113 as a Cluniac priory dedicated to St Andrew. It was initially subordinate to the Cluniac House at Castle Acre in Norfolk but was emancipated from its control in 1298.

The rise of Bromholm Priory from a provincial monastery to a national pilgrimage site was due to its acquisition of a fragment of the True Cross. The relic was reputedly acquired from an English chaplain who fled the sack of Constantinople in 1204.

Miracles were said to take place at Bromholm and pilgrimage was first recorded in 1223. The shrine became a fashionable venue in the early years having been patronised by Henry III and Edward II, and it remained popular with pilgrims until the Dissolution of 1536. The relic at Bromholm was mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Langland’s Vision of Piers Plowman, showing that it had gained a place in national consciousness.