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Sunday, 17 June 2007

Barnsley is fortunate to have within its boundary the extensive remains of a Priory, originally founded under the Cluniac order, which offers much for the visitor to appreciate. The open space of the priory grounds and the views across the wooded countryside still convey the feeling of peace and tranquility as benefited monastery life. But this belies the turbulent and often violent past of this sleeping ruin.

It was founded in 1154 as the Priory of St Mary Magdelene of Lund by Adam Fitswane, sited here on the Lund, from Old-Norse ‘lundr’ meaning a sacred woodland grove. In course of time the Priory took the name of the nearby village of Bretton to be commonly known as Monk Bretton Priory.