A day at Ulverscroft Priory is always popular with our members. Arriving at 1030 we are greeted with a welcome cup of tea or coffee – and a biscuit! – and then we can walk round the park, feed the deer, or just simply sit in the comfortable common room until lunchtime. This week it was the most tender sliced beef I have ever had, and the parsnips were particularly sweet! The portions are always more than generous, and we have to be careful to leave enough room for a pudding! After lunch, again time for a walk or for feeding the deer, or for browsing in the second-hand shop conveniently next to the common room. And finally, in mid-afternoon, we are given afternoon tea before being sent happy on our way.

Ulverscroft Priory was founded by Robert de Beaumont, second Earl of Leicester, 1139 as a hermitage. In 1535 Ulverscroft was recorded as having an annual income of only £83 and was thus scheduled to be dissolved along with other smaller priories. However, because its reputation was so good, thePriory was allowed to continue functioning upon payment of a fine of £166. 13s. 4d. Ulverscroft was finally dissolved in September 1539. The last Prior, Geoffrey Whalley, was granted an annual pension of £20.

In 1543 the former priory was granted to Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland.[2]
Ruins of the priory church and tower remain. The prior’s lodging and refectory are incorporated into a farmhouse constructed on the site. The priory’s door was reused at Thornton Church. The site was purchased in 1927 by Sir William Lindsay Everard, preserving the decaying ruins from total destruction. The priory ruins are on private land and are not open to the public.