Default Image Place of Worship has been
Demolished.
Image by courtesy of
openclipart.org

Beckford Priory (Demolished),
Main Street / Ashton Road,
Beckford, Gloucestershire.

Cemeteries

We don't know whether this Church had a graveyard.

Note: any church within an urban environment may have had its graveyard closed after the Burial Act of 1853. Any new church built after that is unlikely to have had a graveyard at all.

Church History

This Place of Worship was founded about 1128, but we understand it was closed in 1339.

"Beckford Priory was a flourishing conventual house in the 12th century; because of its prosperity it became a centre for scribes who sent their work back to the mother house ... in 1399 it was said to be no longer conventual". So says a history provided by the Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 8: Cleeve, Deerhurst and Tibblestone, and the lower divisions of Tewkesbury and Westminster (1968), pp.250-262 (Beckford).

A further excellent account of the priory's foundation, and its subsequent reversion to a manor house, entitled "Beckford Priory and Hall", was compiled by Father David J. de Burgh, S.D.B. ("Salesians of Don Bosco"), when he was resident at Beckford, c.1956. This was available online in 2014, when I first began my research, but alas, the website it was on has now disappeared. Now, in 2018, I've discovered a copy on another website, so anyone who is interested is invited to try a Google Search to locate it!

The present Beckford Hall, built on the site of the priory, dates from the 17th century, and is now a Grade II Listed Building. An account, on the British Listed Buildings website, includes the information that the 19th-century hall at the rear was built over the undercroft of the medieval priory. It was discovered, and restored in the mid-20th century, and consists of a stone-vaulted chamber, four bays long from east to west and four bays wide.

Denomination

Now or formerly Augustinian.

If more than one congregation has worshipped here, or its congregation has united with others, in most cases this will record its original dedication.

Maps

This Church was located at OS grid reference SO9766635908. You can see this on various mapping systems. Note all links open in a new window:

• Beckford Priory (Demolished), Beckford shown on a Google Map.
• Places of Worship in Beckford shown on a Google Map.
• Streetmap.co.uk (arrow on map shows the Place of Worship's location) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Bing (Ordnance Survey option) (verified 2018-10-13)
• Bing Maps ('Bird's Eye' View) (verified 2018-10-15)
• Ordnance Survey "getamap" (NB some of the 'Change Map' options may require a subscription) (verified 2018-10-15)
• OpenStreetMap (Maps © OpenStreetMap contributors, CC-BY-SA) (verified 2018-10-15)
• A Vision of Britain Through Time - useful for Boundary Changes (verified 2018-10-15)
• www.magic.gov.uk (Modern Maps with various overlays) (verified 2018-10-15)

Resources

I have found many websites of use whilst compiling the information for this database. Here are some which deserve mention as being of special interest for Beckford, and perhaps to Local History and Places of Worship as a whole.

• The Victoria County History series: A History of the County of Gloucester, Volume 8: Cleeve, Deerhurst and Tibblestone, and the lower divisions of Tewkesbury and Westminster (null) (verified 2018-11-06)
• Learn more about Buildings of special or historical interest on the British Listed Buildings (null) (verified 2018-09-19)

The above links were selected and reviewed at the time I prepared the information, but please be aware their content may vary, or disappear entirely. These factors are outside my control.