Lancaster Priory (Lancaster)
The Priory Church of St. Mary is a fine old church in the historic city of Lancaster, and is part of a group which also includes Lancaster Castle.
The original priory became a cell of the Benedictine Abbey at Sees, and in 1431 passed to the Bridgettines of Syon.
The church today, since 1430 the main parish church in Lancaster, mainly dates from the 15th century and is entered by a doorway constructed in 1180. There is also an earlier doorway, from the Anglo-Saxon period.
There are excellent stalls from about 1340. John Ruskin considered their canopies to be the finest in England.
In 1912 the site of the Roman basilica church was discovered, and the apse of this is marked out on the floor of the choir.
The tower was rebuilt by Henry Sephton in 1759.
From outside the church, a path leads down to St. George's Quay on the River Lune, and there are superb views across Morecambe Bay to the mountains of the Lake District.