Binham Priory

Binham Priory is a largely ruined Benedictine monastery in rural Norfolk, founded around 1091 as a dependent cell of St Albans Abbey and one of the most evocative ecclesiastical ruins in East Anglia. The priory grew into a notable medieval religious centre before Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s brought its monastic life to an abrupt end, leaving much of the complex to decay. Its early Gothic west front is particularly significant: the tracery window is considered among the earliest examples of geometric Gothic window tracery in England, predating many better-known examples. Uniquely, the nave of the former priory church survives in active use as the parish Church of St Mary and the Holy Cross, giving visitors the rare experience of worshipping within a working fragment of a medieval monastic complex. The site is managed by English Heritage and protected as both a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade I listed building.