Boxgrove Priory, West Sussex

We’ve been meaning to visit Boxgrove Priory near Chichester for some time and today the sun shone and we finally got there. What a beautiful and peaceful place (apart from the constant traffic noise from the nearby A27). The church itself is well kept with a modern stone floor incorporating a labyrinth representing life’s twists and turns.

Thomas de la Warr was the last patron of Boxgrove Priory before the dissolution. He did a lot of renovation, including this amazing ceiling. He commissioned the Chichester Painter, Lambert Barnard, to decorate the vault with a scheme of foliage and flowers, with heraldic shields referring to founders and former benefactors of the Priory. The ceiling we can see today is extremely well preserved from those Tudor times, with only minimal repairing of cracks, and colours as fresh as new.

There are lots of picturesque ruined parts of the Priory too, but for me seeing this ceiling put me directly back in touch with those days before Henry came along and wrecked so much beauty. This was lucky to escape when all around his men wreaked havoc.

You can see more detail in Large