Greyfriars

In London, the Greyfriars was a Conventual Franciscan friary that existed from 1225 to 1538 on a site at the North-West of the City of London by Newgate in the parish of St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Franciscan religious house to be founded in the country. The establishment included a conventual church that was one of the largest in London, and a studium or regional university, with an extensive library of logical and theological texts. It was an important intellectual centre in the early fourteenth century, rivalled only by Oxford University in status. Members of the community at that time included William of Ockham, Walter Chatton and Adam Wodeham. It flourished in the fourteenth and fifteenth century but in the 16th century, it was dissolved at the instigation of Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries of 1538. Christ's Hospital was founded in the old conventual buildings, and the church was rebuilt completely by Sir Christopher Wren as Christ Church Greyfriars after the original church was almost completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, and Wren's church was ruined in the London bombing of World War II. A memorial garden occupies the ruins, and a building now stands on part of the priory, designed by Arup Group Limited, currently occupied by Merrill Lynch. It was named after the friars' practice of wearing grey habits.