Tour the Priory

 

Join one of our regular public tours on Tuesdays, Fridays or Saturdays (11.00am and 2.30pm) to take a tour to see the historic buildings which were once part of the medieval Priory of Clerkenwell.

Priory Church and Norman Crypt

The tour takes visitors to the oldest surviving part of the medieval Priory, the remarkable Norman crypt. The Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Heraclius, came here in 1185 to consecrate the round church that once stood above it and to ask Henry II for military help to protect Jerusalem. Two years later Saladin had taken the city.  

In the North Chapel, visitors see the shrouded effigy from William Weston's tomb. Prior at the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries, he died on the very day that the Act, closing down the Order in England, went through parliament.

St John's Gate

After looking round the 16th century church, used as a chapel to Henry VIII's palace, the tour returns to the Tudor Gate House, once the Southern entrance to the Priory and still retaining its original roof bosses. After the Dissolution, St John’s Gate was put to many different uses with Shakespeare, Dr Johnson, Hogarth and Dickens all taking part in its story.

Another chapter opens in the 19th century with the founding of the British Order, as a Royal Order of Chivalry, and the creation of its headquarters within the Gate. Heraldry, stained glass, gilding and carving all combine in glowing interiors, designed by John Oldrid Scott to recall the traditions of the Hospitallers. They provide the perfect setting for fine collections of painting, furniture and silver from the Order’s time on Malta and, in a room off the original 1504 spiral staircase, there is a library for early books and manuscripts.

After the tour, there is the opportunity to visit the museum shop where publications on the Knights Hospitallers and local history are available as well as other souvenirs of your visit.