Finchale Priory

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Finchale Priory on the banks of the River Wear

Finchale Priory (pronounced finkle) was a 13th century Benedictine priory, the remains are sited by the River Wear, four miles from Durham. It is a Grade I listed building.^[1]

There are some remains of the early 12th century stone chapel of St John the Baptist, the site of Godric of Finchale's burial, built some time around the end of Godric's life. Some of the temporary buildings, erected for the first prior and his monks sent to establish the Priory some twenty years after Godric's death, still exist, the monastic complex was built in the latter half of the 13th century with alterations and additions continuing for the following three hundred years. The church was later reduced in size and excepting the prior's house, the monastic buildings were virtually abandoned — the small groups of monks that came from Durham for a three week 'rest' used the prior's house as living quarters, and the monks' dormitory only for sleeping.

The site has been a dependency of Durham Cathedral since 1196, the year in which the chapel hermitage became known as Finchale Priory, some years after being set up by Godric as his hermitage^[2]. The buildings and immediate grounds are now managed by English Heritage, with the surrounds converted into Finchale Abbey Caravan Park - an award-winning eco village project set up to sustainably manage development in the area^[3].

There are many excellent examples of heavily decorated capitals on the original arcade columns, tracery in the filled-in nave arches of the church, and on the south wall is a double piscina and two carved seats of the sedilia.

The site and immediate area is one of significant juxtaposition between traditional and modern. Entry to the site is through an automated barrier, the caravan site has many modern luxuries and the southern approaches are a working farm - facts much lamented by some^[4]. Yet, this is still an isolated site, with its dead-end road (the site is blocked it to the north by steep hills on the far banks of the Wear) and distance from any current home-building projects.