Bolton Priory

Bolton Priory, whose full title is The Priory Church of St Mary and St Cuthbert, Bolton Abbey is a Grade I listed parish church of the Church of England in Bolton Abbey (village), within the Yorkshire Dales National Park in North Yorkshire, England. There has been continuous worship on the site since 1154, when a group of Augustinian canons moved from their original community in nearby village of Embsay and started construction of the present building, which is now situated within a scheduled monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Despite the loss of most of the Priory buildings during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the western half of the original nave was preserved so that the local parish could continue its worship there. There is today a full liturgical calendar, in addition to which the Priory hosts the Bolton Priory Concert Series, the Bolton Priory Celebrity Organ Recitals, the Bolton Priory Mystery Play, the Bolton Priory Live Nativity, and the annual St Cuthbert lecture. The Priory is a member of the Greater Churches Network, and welcomes more than 160,000 visitors a year.HistoryFoundationThe church has its historical origins in an Augustinian priory founded at Embsay, five miles to the west of the village of Bolton, in 1120. The community moved to Bolton in 1154 and started the construction of the present building. The east end of the church was an oblong building, parts of which are still seen in the walls of the original chancel, that may have been built over a former Saxon chapel. Round this structure a short chancel, tower and transepts were built, and a conventional cloister was added to the south west of the south transept.