In 2025 the royal Norman Nave of Leominster Priory will be 900 years old.

A nationally important spiritual, cultural and community space, this significant date will be marked by celebrating the Priory’s amazing story. 

The story of Norman Leominster will also be told with an exhibition about the Bayeux Tapestry. The ‘Mystery Woman’ of the Bayeux Tapestry may show the last Saxon Abbess of Leominster, Eadgifu, who was abducted by Swein Godwinson to the scandal of late Saxon England. Swein was a potential heir to the throne, and their son, Hakon was a hostage at Duke William’s court just before the Norman Conquest, linking Leominster to 1066 and all that! 

In June and July 2025 these stories will be explored in a series of community collaborations and events including a display of replicas of the Bayeux Tapestry, the Priory’s lost East End, Herefordshire School of Romanesque Sculpture, and the Priory as a place of pilgrimage. Schools and community groups will take part in interactive workshops, talks, walks, dramas, concerts and services hosted by the Priory.

It’s a royal story of tragedy and triumph wrought in stone. In the wake of the tragic drowning of his son, the Norman King Henry I secured his legacy by the building of Leominster Priory and Reading Abbey. Using the resources of the English Crown, Henry I built the majestic Norman Nave decorated with famous carvings of the Herefordshire Romanesque School of Sculpture.

You can read more about the plans and rationale for the Priory 900 celebrations here. An events calendar will soon be available.

The Priory Church continues to be open for services and visits

We are a welcoming and inclusive church in the rural market town of Leominster, in Hereford Diocese.

Whether you would like to come to a church service, are enquiring about a special event, such as a wedding or a christening or are a visitor; click here to visit the Priory Church website.

Leominster Priory is open to visitors daily from 10am-3pm.

Leominster Priory is part of Leominster Team Ministry which includes 23 churches: The Eastern Parishes of Stoke Prior, Kimbolton, Hamnish, Hatfield, Ford, Hope-under-Dinmore, Pudleston, Bockleton, Middleton-on-the-Hill, Leysters, Humber, and Docklow. The Western Parishes of Dilwyn, Orleton, Brimfield, Eyton, Eye,