Join us for our Heritage Open Days 2026 event to discover some of the everyday histories of St Mary’s Priory!

From 1835 until 1965, St Mary's Priory was home to a community of Benedictine nuns who had fled the French Revolution in 1792 to find safety in England. The Priory also housed a boarding school for girls. In 1965 the community sold the Priory to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, who opened Princethorpe College in September 1966.

For this year’s Heritage Open Days theme of Everyday Histories, we will be retracing the steps of some of the highly-skilled and loyal servants who kept everything running smoothly within the Priory and its boarding school. Find out more in our Heritage Open Days blog post: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/resource/the-dressmaker-ever-busy-with-her-needle.html .

Our heritage team will be conducting tours of the College on Sunday 20th September, starting at 13.30, 14.15 and 15.00. Each tour will last approximately 1 hour, and will include the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels, cloisters, library, one of the nineteenth-century cellars, and (weather permitting) the nuns’ cemetery.

Please note that numbers are limited and places must be booked in advance. Admission is free and complimentary tea and coffee will be available. We look forward to seeing you!

Description supplied by the event organiser.