Derby Cluniac Priory

The priory stood on the north side of St James's Street, formerly known as St James's Lane, adjacent to the Markeaton Brook. There had been a chapel dedicated to St James on the site from the Saxon era. Between 1072 and 1076, Waltheof, Earl of Huntingdon and Northumbria gave the chapel to the Benedictine monks of Bermondsey Abbey, who quickly developed it into a priory. The donation of the chapel was confirmed by King Stephen around 1140. The Corporation of Derby (a forerunner of Derby City Council) paid the priory two pounds of wax each year for the right of the citizens of Derby to cross St James Bridge, constructed by the monks.

<blockquote>O God, by whose grace thy servants, the Holy Abbots of Cluny, enkindled with the fire of thy love, became burning and shining lights in thy Church, grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and may ever walk before thee as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, liveth and reigneth, one God, now and for ever.</blockquote>