About
Mattersey Priory in Nottinghamshire is the only surviving remains of a house of the Gilbertine order in England — an order of unique historical significance as the only monastic order founded in medieval England itself rather than imported from the Continent. The Gilbertine order was established by St Gilbert of Sempringham in Lincolnshire around 1130–1148, making it the sole product of English monastic creativity in the twelfth century and a remarkable expression of the religious vitality of the Anglo-Norman church.
The order's houses were typically double monasteries — accommodating both canons and nuns in separate but adjacent enclosures, with the canons serving the spiritual needs of the nuns — and Mattersey, founded around 1185 by Roger de Mattersey, was a smaller priory of canons alone rather than a double house.
The community at Mattersey was never large — it remained a modest establishment throughout its existence — but its identity as a Gilbertine house gives it a historical importance disproportionate to its physical size. The priory suffered a devastating fire in 1279 that destroyed most of the original late twelfth-century buildings.
The surviving remains, which date principally from the rebuilding of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, consist of substantial portions of the east and south ranges of the cloister — the refectory range, the chapter house walls, and portions of other conventual buildings — along with fragmentary traces of the church itself.
The chapter house wall retains several courses of dressed stonework and provides the clearest impression of the quality of the rebuilt buildings. The priory was dissolved in 1538 during Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries and subsequently fell into ruin. Today English Heritage manages the ruins as a free open-access site in the flat, agricultural landscape of the Idle valley near the Nottinghamshire–Yorkshire border.
The remoteness and tranquillity of the site — reached by a minor road through farmland, with no facilities and few other visitors — give Mattersey a quality of quiet authenticity that is rare among heritage sites, and the combination of historical significance (the sole surviving Gilbertine remains) and atmospheric setting makes it a rewarding destination for visitors with a particular interest in English monastic history.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
💡 Visitor Tips
- Mattersey Priory is best reached by car — public transport to this rural location is extremely limited. The nearest rail station is Retford, approximately 5 miles south-west.
- There are absolutely no facilities on site — bring water and food, and use facilities in Retford or Mattersey village before visiting.
- The site is most rewarding for visitors with a specific interest in English monastic history — its significance lies in what it was rather than what survives. Read about the Gilbertine order before visiting.
- Combine with Roche Abbey (EH paid, approximately 8 miles north near Maltby) for an outstanding monasticism day — Roche is one of the most atmospheric ruined abbeys in the north of England with a spectacular landscaped gorge setting.
- The English Heritage website has a detailed history of Mattersey and the Gilbertine order — review this in advance as there are no interpretation resources on site beyond a single panel.
- An English Heritage membership card covers the admission at Roche Abbey if you are combining both sites, and is excellent value for a multi-site itinerary.
- The Idle valley landscape around the priory is flat and quiet — ideal for those who appreciate the contemplative quality of an isolated monastic ruin. Allow time to sit with the ruins rather than hurrying through.
- Mattersey village church (St Peter's) is a short walk from the priory and has medieval fabric worth seeing in its own right — it predates the priory and provides context on the pre-existing ecclesiastical settlement.
Highlights
The Only Gilbertine Remains in England
Mattersey Priory is the sole surviving physical remains of a house of the Gilbertine order — the only monastic order ever founded in England itself. While the great Benedictine, Cistercian, Franciscan, Dominican, and Augustinian orders were all Continental imports, the Gilbertines were an indigenous English creation, established by St Gilbert of Sempringham in Lincolnshire around 1130–1148.
This makes the scattered walls of Mattersey uniquely significant in the history of English monasticism: they are the only tangible physical legacy of the one monastic movement that England produced for itself.
Visiting Mattersey is, for those who understand this distinction, visiting a site of singular historical importance — not for the impressiveness of the ruins but for what they represent in the story of English religious life.
St Gilbert of Sempringham and the Gilbertine Order
St Gilbert of Sempringham (c. 1083–1189) was a Lincolnshire priest who established a religious community for women at Sempringham around 1131, subsequently adding male canons to serve the community's spiritual needs. The resulting double monastery — with women and men in separate enclosures — became the model for the Gilbertine order, which by the time of the Dissolution had grown to approximately twenty-six houses, almost all in the east Midlands and Yorkshire.
Gilbert was canonised in 1202, and his order continued until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century. Mattersey, founded around 1185, was one of the later Gilbertine houses and one of the few that housed canons only — a priory without the accompanying community of nuns that characterised the principal Gilbertine double houses.
The East and South Cloister Ranges
The surviving masonry at Mattersey consists principally of the east and south ranges of the cloister — the conventual buildings that surrounded the open cloister garth at the heart of every monastic establishment. The east range typically housed the chapter house (where the community gathered daily to conduct business and hear readings from the rule), the sacristy, and the dorter (dormitory) above.
The south range typically housed the refectory (dining hall) and kitchen.
At Mattersey, the walls of these ranges survive to varying heights, and the chapter house wall in particular retains courses of dressed limestone that allow the quality of the original construction to be appreciated. The claustral arrangement, common to all monastic orders, can be read from these remains with the assistance of the English Heritage interpretation panel on site.
The Fire of 1279 and the Rebuilding
In 1279 Mattersey Priory was devastated by a fire that destroyed most of the original late twelfth-century buildings, including the church and the greater part of the conventual ranges. The community received royal and ecclesiastical assistance to fund the rebuilding, and the surviving remains represent principally the work of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries — the post-fire reconstruction rather than the original foundation.
This rebuilding provides the current ruins with their date; the fire that destroyed the original buildings is the reason why no twelfth-century fabric survives.
The event of 1279 is a reminder of the constant vulnerability of timber-framed and partly timber-roofed monastic buildings to fire, and of the disruption and expense that such catastrophes imposed on small religious communities with limited resources.
Collections
Mattersey Priory is an English Heritage free open-access site with no visitor facilities. The experience is the ruins themselves — cloister range walls, chapter house remnants, and fragmentary traces of the church — in their quiet agricultural setting. There is no object collection.
The significance of the site is historical and archaeological: it is the sole physical survival of the only English monastic order. Nearby Roche Abbey (EH, paid) provides the richest complementary experience for visitors interested in medieval monasticism in the region.
Explore the diverse collections housed in this museum.
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.