Wenlock Priory

[6] After her death in 715, however, little is historically known of the monastery until the Norman Conquest, although It is known that at the end of the ninth century, in 901 Æthelflæd (daughter of Alfred the Great) and Æthelred gave land and a golden chalice weighing thirty mancuses to the shrine of Saint Mildburg.

[7] The priory continued to be inhabited by monks at least until the mid 11th century, when endowments were made by Leofric, Earl of Mercia.

[9] Roger de Montgomery, Earl of Shrewsbury, was one of the great Norman lords during William the Conqueror's reign.

The story of the discovery is told in the Miracula Inventionis Beate Mylburge Virginis, attributed to Odo, Cardinal bishop of Ostia.

[2][9] Shortly after this, Goscelin of St. Bertin wrote a life of the saint, which together with miracles recorded at her shrine revived a local cult which endured through the Middle Ages.

[14] The town is made up of a small network of intricate, narrow streets lined with timber-framed black and white buildings.

Within the town is the well of St Milburga of Wenlock, which was said to have cured sight impairments and helped Victorian women find a suitor.

Proposals had been made for creating a new diocese, with the church at Wenlock becoming a cathedral, as happened at Gloucester, but these were not implemented, and most of the buildings were destroyed.

The late 15th-century Prior's House and the adjoining infirmary building were converted into a private residence later known as "Wenlock Abbey".

Of the monastic buildings, there are substantial remains of the chapter-house, the library, and the lavatorium, while part of the later infirmary and prior's lodging have been converted to a private house.

A blocked door leads to the remains of the sacristy on the west side of the transept, which has three large arched recesses and a crypt.

This shows an unusual design as a room has been constructed above the aisle vaults, requiring them to be lower than in the rest of the church.