OUR HERITAGE, SHAPING LEDBURY’S FUTURE

PROTECTING OUR HERITAGE, SHAPING THE FUTURE

30 JANUARY 2026 – MEETING

  

LEOMINSTER PRIORY.

By Rob Walker

The original church, founded at Leominster in 660AD, was a Celtic church, a seed planted by a missionary from Lindisfarne, St. Edfrith, whose religious heritage lay far to the west on the island of Iona. It was the first great minster to be founded in Herefordshire, pre-dating Hereford Cathedral.

The Priory church is now an Anglican parish church dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The building was constructed for a Benedictine Priory in about the 13th century, although there had been an Anglo-Saxon monastery in Leominster, possibly on the same site. In 1539 the east end of the church was destroyed along with most of the monastic buildings, but the main body of the church was preserved.

An infamous relic of the past lies in a corner of the Priory church. This is one of the very few surviving examples of a genuine ducking or cucking stool. The stool was used from as far back as the early 1200s until it’s last outing here in Leominster in 1817.

 

 

BURGAGE HALL MAP AND DIRECTIONS

Our Meetings

Meetings are held in Burgage Hall, usually on the last Friday of the month. They start at 7.30pm, unless otherwise stated.

We recommend arriving around 10 – 15 minutes beforehand so you have time to settle in and the meeting can start on time.

Open to members and non-members. Free for members, £5.00 for non-members. There is no need to book in advance unless otherwise stated. 

Burgage Hall is accessed from Church Lane and down the path beside Butcher Row House Museum.  Alternatively take Chapel Alley (next to the newsagents) off the High Street and enter through the double doors.

The Society organises about eight meetings each year.

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