| Summary: | As a small alien priory cell, St James priory is considered to be of interest because these types of site are rarely known. The site has additional interest in that it was probably occupied by a Saxon church prior to its creation as a priory. The plan of the priory buildings is not known; it is assumed that later buildings occupied the site of the church and prior’s house. It appears that the opportunity to investigate the site during development in the 1960s was missed, although finds of skeletons were recorded. As a result there are now no upstanding remains of the buildings and the below ground archaeological deposits have probably been badly disturbed. The line of the precinct wall is one of the few surviving elements of the medieval landscape. The sites of the priory mills and mill leats, first mentioned in a 12th century grant, are also considered to be important. |
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