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Summary

The built and earthwork remains of the Priory of St Margaret of Antioch, a Benedictine Alien Priory founded at Isleham circa 1100. The church, which is the only extant building, is an excellent example of a small Romanesque church of circa 1100. It was never extended, little altered, and shows extensive herringbone coursing of the masonry. The nave, of two bays, is divided from the choir by a fine round-headed arch on attached columns, whilst the choir was divided from the sanctuary by a similar arch on rectangular responds. The sanctuary is apsidal ended. There were minor alterations in the 13th century, and towards the end of the Middle Ages the west wall was buttressed. Other alterations, including the great doors in the south wall, belong to the period when the church was used as a barn. The vault and arch of the sanctuary were demolished early 19th century.The priory is not considered to have developed sufficiently to have required a full claustral range, and the chapel is thought to have been the most southerly building in the complex, as well as the only building in stone. The area immediately to the north of the chapel is enclosed by a clunch and brick wall, which post dates the priory and relates to the later reuse of the chapel. It is, however, thought to reflect an earlier boundary enclosing the conventual buildings which would have been essentially domestic in character. The enclosure may also contain the monks' cemetery.In 1254 the monks moved to the priory at Linton and in 1414 the lands were seized by the King and granted to the Master and Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge. In 1944 the college placed it in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works.

Monument Type(s):

• PRIORY (12th century to 15th century - 1101 AD to 1440 AD)

Protected Status:

• Scheduled Monument 1013278: Isleham priory: an alien Benedictine priory 110m west of St Andrew's Church
• Listed Building (I) 1126476: Priory Church of St Margaret of Antioch

Full description

4. Priory (remains of).

1. St Margaret's (Benedictine Alien Priory) was founded in the C11. In 1254 (C13) the monks moved to the sister cell at Linton and the small conventual church, near the parish church, was used in 1914 as a barn.

2. The church of St. Margaret of Antioch was given to the Abbey of St. Jacut-de-la-Mer in Brittany between 1086 - 1163, by local landowners. The lands were seized by the King in 1414 (C15) and granted to the Master and Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge. In 1944 the college placed it in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works.
The building remains an excellent example of a small Romanesque church of c.1100, never extended, little altered and showing extensive herringbone coursing of the masonry. The nave, of two bays, is divided from the choir by a fine round-headed arch on attached columns, whilst the choir was divided from the sanctuary by a similar arch on rectangular responds. The sanctuary is apsidal ended.
There were minor alterations in the C13, and towards the end of the Middle Ages the W wall was buttressed. Other alterations, including the great doors in the S wall, belong to the period when the church was used as a barn. The vault and arch of the sanctuary were demolished early C19. (detailed plans shown - R3).

3. The Church of St Margaret of Antioch is as described and forms the only structural remains of the priory. It is still under the guardianship of the DoE and is open to the public. There are no internal fixtures, but the parish vicar holds 2 public services a year in July, within the church. See ground photographs.
Published survey (25in) (Church) revised.

8. The alien Benedictine priory at Isleham is situated on the northern side of the present village, some 100m to the west of the parish church of St Andrew. The village itself is located at the tip of a low chalk spur, beyond which the building is the chapel of St Margaret of Antioch (a Grade I Listed Building) to the north of which lie the buried foundations of the conventual buildings and the earthwork remains of the associated agricultural complex.
The chapel is located just to the north of the angle between Church Street and Mill Street. It is a single linear structure, c.30m in length, which is divided into two rectangular sections (the nave and chancel) with an apsidal sanctuary at the eastern end. The walls are approximately 1m-1.2m thick, composed of limestone and local clunch rubble, partly laid down in herringbone pattern, partly in horizontal courses. Barnack limestone was used for the plinth around the base of the walls, the internal arches, and the earlier doorways and windows. The exterior has been replaced on numerous occasions in a variety of stone, tile, brick and flint, but the structure has remained essentially unaltered since its construction around AD1100.
The nave measures about 8m by 14m and about 6m high, the roof having been raised by approximately 1m at a later date. There are two narrow slit windows in the north wall, each with rounded heads and deeply splayed internal recedded. These, like the single slit windows in the south and west walls, are original, as are the three bull's eye (circular) windows arranged in the triangle of the west gable. The nave is separated from the chancel by a semicircular arch of two orders (an order is a column entrie, consisting of base, shaft and capital, with an entablature) supported by responds with two half-round columns, cushion capitals and splayed bases. The chancel is slightly shorter and about 1m narrower than the nave, the division marked by external corners supported by alternate vertical and horizontal quoins (long-and-short work). The earth floor, both here and in the sanctuary, is raised by about 0.15m above that of the nave and separated by a modern concrete step inserted beneath the chancel arch. The chancel originally contained three slit windows similar to those in the nave. However, in the 13th century the south window was enlarged, and at the same time a square aumbry (or cupboard recess) was cut into the north wall next to a new doorway with a pointed arch. The doorway in the north wall of the nave was either added during this period, or altered to match. A further doorway with a shouldered, or Carnaervon, arch was inserted in the south wall of the chancel around 1300, and the window on the demolished in the 19th century, although the rectangular attached piers remain, both pierced by beam slots for a wooden partition or rood screen. The sanctuary is about 6m in length and of much the same internal width as the chancel. The walls, however, are about 0.3m thinner, and the difference is again marked by external corners with long-and-short work. The rounded end of the sanctuary, or apse, is supported by four external pilasters which, together with the slight inward curve at the top of the interior walls, indicate that it was originally covered by a semi-domed, vaulted ceiling. Of the three windows in the apse only the east window remains unaltered. The previous narrow loops to the north and south were replaced by taller lancets in the 13th century.
All further alterations relate to the reuse of the chapel as a barn after the reformation. The south sanctuary window was expanded to form a square aperture with a brick surround, now covered by a wooden shutter. Similar alterations were made to the window above the south door in the chancel, and both chancel doors were blocked. In the 16th or early 17th century a large barn door with a round-headed brick arch was inserted in the south wall of the nave, removing all traces of an earlier doorway in the same location. The raised roof line of the west gable were extended in matching stone (which was also used to infill the bull's eye windows), although the parapets and the east gable were completed in brick. This work may have caused or threatened subsidence, since at around the same time two brick-clad, three stage buttresses were added to the west wall. Two further sloped buttresses (also in brick) were attached to the western end of the north wall of the nave, and a brick revetment was constructed along the base on this side, replacing part of the original limestone plinth. The tiled roof is in two levels with a semi-conical continuation over the eastern apse, reclad by the Ministry of Works after 1944. Some of the main roof timbers are thought to date from the previous century.
The priory is not considered to have developed sufficiently to have required a full claustral range, and the chapel is thought to have been the mot southerly building in the complex, as well as the only building in stone. However, the sloping ground which extends for about 6m from the south wall of the chapel is included in the scheduling, in order to provide protection for the archaeological relationship between the chapel and the remains of any buried surfaces extending towards Church Street, the position of which is thought to relate to the siting of the priory.
The area immediately to the north of the chapel is enclosed by a clunch and brick wall, attached to the north west corner of the nave and the south east side of the apse. The wall, which has recently been renovated, post-dates the priory and relates to the later reuse of the chapel. It is, however, thought to reflect an earlier boundary enclosing the conventual buildings which, given the historical evidence for the limited scale of the priory, would have been essentially domestic in character. As well as the buried remains of these structures, the enclosure may also contain the monks' cemetery, situated on the north east side of the sanctuary.
The priory is thought to have been founded around AD1100, either by Count Alan of Brittany, or one of his immediate successors. Count Alan was one of a number of Breton lords who supported William the Conqueror, and by the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, he held several estates in Cambridgeshire, including lands at Isleham, Linton and Swavesey. The priory is not mentioned in the Domesday Book, but was probably founded shortly after, when the Benedictine monastery of St Jacut Sur Mer, near St Malo in Brittany was granted land in both Isleham and Linton (30km to the south).
The two priories established at this time were confirmed in the possession of St Jacut by Pope Alexander III in 1163. Neither is thought to have been particularly large, and both were run directly from the mother house with a few Breton monks assisting priors appointed by the abbot. Isleham, with its range of agricultural buildings was probably organised primarily to manage the gift of land. However it did not prosper or expand, and in 1254 the monks were moved to the sister house at Linton. In 1280 the title to the property was again confirmed to St Jacut, and in 1291 the taxation records of Pope Nicholas IV record it as still held by the prior at Linton. The property is therefore thought to have continued in use, probably operated by lay brothers or tenants, although the elaboration of the chapel windows and doors towards the end of the century indicates that some religious function was maintained.
In the 13th century the priory was involved in a number of disputes over local tithes with the adjacent parish church, which was rebuilt during this period, on the site of a pre-conquest predecessor. In the 14th century the nature of the disputes became more serious as Isleham, like many alien foundations, suffered as a result of growing conflict between England and France. At the onset of the Hundred Years War in 1337 both Isleham and Linton were confiscated by Edward III, but as Brittany was not allied to the French cause, both properties were later returned. Nevertheless, renewed attempts were made to replace the prior with an English monk throughout the 14th century, and in 1414 both properties were finally seized by the Crown under the Statute of Leicester, to prevent the contribution of revenue to enemy territory. In 1440, following a period of leasing, the Isleham property was granted to Pembroke College, Cambridge, and either then or after the Reformation, the chapel was converted into a barn. A map if Isleham dated 1807 depicts the walled enclosure around the north of the chapel, and the area of the former agricultural buildings further north is shown as pasture. The chapel and enclosure were termed 'Priory Homestead and yard' in the 1848 Tithe Award, and the accompanying map shows an additional building attached to the north west corner of the nave. Both this and a further structure (added to the north wall of the enclosure in the latter part of the century) were demolished after the chapel ceased to be used as a barn in 1914. In 1944 Pembroke College placed the chapel in the guardianship of the Ministry of Works and it was subsequently repaired.
The electricity pole and water trough fitted in the field to the north are both excluded from the scheduling, together with all fences, fence posts and gates, although the ground beneath all of these items is included. The enclosure wall to the north of the chapel is similarly excluded apart from the foundations which are thought to retain evidence of an earlier boundary.

9.

10. Amongst features identified during an evaluation at 12 West Street was a wide boundary ditch, possibly representing the westernmost boundary of the priory precinct.

12. Fenland Survey, ISL S29.

<1> Hodgson, J.F., 1885, Arch J 42, p. 240 (Article in serial). SCB1003.

<2> DOE, June 1949, DOE (HHR) Newmarket RD, 6/1949, 9 (Unpublished document). SCB5135.

<3> Pevsner, N., 1954, The Buildings of England: Cambridgeshire, p. 336 (Bibliographic reference). SCB17744.

<4> 1958, OS 6 inch map (Map). SCB16375.

<5> OS revised 6in, 19/01/1952,(T Jones) (Bibliographic reference). SCB9657.

<6> Knowles, D. and Hadcock, R.N., 1953, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales. 1st edition, 84, 89 (Bibliographic reference). SCB6883.

<7> Extract from church history board (no authority) (Graphic material). SCB18055.

<8> 1996, Isleham priory: an alien Benedictine priory 110m west of St Andrew's Church, SAM 27101 (Scheduling record). SCB16801.

<10> Knight, M., 1997, 12 West Street, Isleham, Cambridgeshire. An Archaeological Evaluation (Unpublished report). SCB17160.

<11> Wareham, A.F & Wright, A.P.M., 2002, The Victoria County History of Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, Volume 10 (Bibliographic reference). SCB19536.

<12> Hall, D.N., 1996, The Fenland Project, Number 10: Cambridgeshire Survey, The Isle of Ely and Wisbech, ISL S29 (Bibliographic reference). SCB16086.

<13> n.d., A Short History of the Parish Church of S. Andrew, Isleham and the Priory Church of S. Margaret (Bibliographic reference). SCB2398.

<14> Various, 1967, The History and Archaeology of the Cambridge Area. Journal of the Royal Archaeological Institute 124, pp. 214-58, p.253/4 (Article in serial). SCB19706.

<15> Radford, R., 1967, Report of the Summer Meeting of the Royal Archaeological Institute at Cambridge in 1967 IN The Archaeological Journal 124: 212-258, p228 (Article in serial). SCB18377.

<16> 1941, National Building Record Index, 13842 (Index). SCB60593.

<17> 1959, OS 6 inch map (Map). SCB8920.

<18> 1924, OS 25 inch map (Map). SCB8880.

<19> Linge, J.R., 1978, Field Investigators Comments, 19/7/76 (Verbal communication). SCB63898.

<20> 1988, DOE (HHR) District of East Cambridgeshire, Cambs (Index). SCB63842.

<21> English Heritage, 1996, Scheduled Monument Notification - 1996 (Unknown reference type). SCB66735.

<22> English Heritage, The English Heritage visitors' handbook 1998-99 (Bibliographic reference). SCB62262.

<23> ANON, 2004, Heritage Unlocked: Guide to free sites in the East of England (Bibliographic reference). SCB66736.

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