Brinkburn Priory

Brinkburn was founded by William Bertram, Baron of Mitford, in the reign of Henry I as an Augustinian priory. The exact date is not known but cannot have been later than 1135, as Henry died that year. About 1180 or so, Brinkburn became an independent house, and the building of the monastic church was commenced. The architectural style has been described as "transitional" (i.e. between Norman and Gothic). Although the Priory acquired lands in Northumberland and Durham over the years it was never particularly wealthy. Little is known of the early history of the priory, although it is known that it survived some difficult times. In fact, as late as 1419 it was raided and robbed. In late…

The principal survival of the medieval priory is the large late 12th-century church. It consists of a nave and north aisle of six bays, a crossing with a low tower, transepts of two bays with vaulted eastern chapels, and a three-bay aisleless chancel. Except for the south-west corner, which was rebuilt in 1858, the masonry of the church has survived from the original construction. While the north door is in elaborate late Romanesque style, most of the ornament is refined, in the manner of contemporary work at Hexham Priory and Byland Abbey, freely mixing rounded and pointed arches. The use of stone vaulting and the three-storey elevation mark the church out as a high-status building. The…

The church was used for the scenes of Edmund Blackadder's consecration at Canterbury Cathedral in the episode "The Archbishop" of the first series of Blackadder in 1983.