Tower and Town, July 2018

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The Priory Gardens

Behind the Jubilee Centre and the flats in the Priory lie the Priory Gardens – an oasis of peace in the centre of town, enjoyed by a wide age range from the elderly Priory residents to St John’s students on their lunch breaks.

The site gets its name from a medieval priory founded by the “White Friars” or Carmelites who were granted the site shortly before 1315. Unlike other monastic orders in the Town, the Carmelites were mendicants who relied on the generosity of townspeople to meet their basic needs. (Is it appropriate that the present building serves as social housing?)

The Editor was pleased to enjoy a walk through the garden with Joe, a volunteer at the Jubilee Centre, who is a nature lover and very knowledgeable about the various fine trees in the garden. He reminded me that there is a particularly fine specimen yew and that yew trees had a played an important role in the Battle of Agincourt which would have taken place during the lifetime of the Carmelite house. The battle was won for the English thanks to the revolutionary new weapon, the longbow, made of yew wood. Joe, now in retirement, remembers walking past the garden when he was a schoolboy but not able to come in because it was then private property. The garden was donated to Kennet District Council in the 1930s by Mrs. Thomasine Clay, whose generous gift is noted on a stone in the rose garden.

The garden makes the perfect setting for large scale Town events such as the recent puppet festival and the Civil War re-enactment campsite. When the Jazz Festival was active it accommodated a large marquee.

Sara Holden