Beauvale Priory

Beauvale Charterhouse was founded in 1343 by Nicholas de Canteloupe, the 3rd of 9 priories to be built dedicated to the Carthusian order of monks. The monks lived a strict silent life here for nearly 200 years until the dissolution of the monasteries, when they refused to sign the oath of supremacy acknowledging Henry Viii as head of the church. John Houghton and Robert Lawrence (previous and present Priors) were the first to be hung, drawn and quartered at Tyburn on 4th May 1535. The bishop of Nottingham leads a pilgrimage on the Sunday closest to the 4th May every year in memory of the 2 martyrs.
Beauvale is part of D.H.Lawrence "Country of my heart" and he writes a short novel based here called "A fragment of stained glass".
We bought the derelict farm in 2006 with the intention of leading a quiet self sufficient life. We were approached by English Heritage as they wanted to consolidate the extremely fragile priory ruins. An ongoing consolidation programme of works began and is still ongoing today, the next phase of works is on the guest house range of the gatehouse which once consolidated will become a community classroom and information room.
The tearooms opened in October 2011 and have steadily increased our customer numbers, we are extremely grateful for all the support we receive in the tearooms and for all the events we hold on the farm.