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Dig Deeper – Newnham Priory

Dig Deeper

Digging the priory

Priory was built around St Paul’s Church where services and prayers were held (left). Monks lived, ate and slept in buildings around the open-air cloisters (to the right). They also had indoor communal toilets flushed by flowing water. Illustration by Pete Urmston 

Albion Archaeology excavated the area of Newnham Priory’s outer service courtyards when the leisure park was built and later extended. 

Listen to archaeologist, Jeremy Oetgen, describe the types of buildings they found in the priory’s courtyards. Over 500 years ago, blacksmiths’ hearths, bread ovens and a brewery operated in a ramshackle cluster of wooden buildings which stood where today stand the cinema, pizzeria and gym.

Find out more about Newnham Priory