TO CELEBRATE the 900th anniversary of its Norman nave, Leominster Priory in Herefordshire is hosting a multi-arts festival this summer, an occasion that the Team Rector, the Revd Guy Cole, describes as an effort to “reconnect individuals with their story through the Priory”.
The festival, which incorporates free and paid-for events, is on until 14 July. Schools, community groups, and churches from the encircling areas have been invited to participate in Leominster’s programme of art exhibitions, heritage walks and talks, craft workshops, dramas, concert events, and church services.
One highlight of the festivities is an art installation including a display of eight actual-size photographic replicas of scenes within the Bayeux Tapestry. Fr Cole said that the photos were “hanging within the Norman nave at what is assumed to have been the peak that it could’ve originally been displayed in Bayeux Cathedral”.
One of the three women depicted within the tapestry, and the just one to be named, is Ælfgyva, who is assumed to have been the last Abbess of Leominster. “So she’s somewhat vital for us,” Fr Cole said.
Artworks inspired by the Priory’s history and created by students and staff from Hereford College of Arts and from the University of Worcester may even be on display.
Leominster Priory The Leominster Priory arts team welcoming the arrival of the festival programme brochures
The Director of Music at Leominster Priory and the project manager for the festival, Hilary Norris, said that one among her favourite events within the programme was a concert by which 250 children from ten local schools sang, danced, and performed with puppets to inform the 900 years of history. “It was jam-packed; a whole lot of individuals were there. The kids were learning about history but in addition about spirituality,” she said.
“I feel history is integral to faith. We have to grasp who we’re to grasp anybody, God or the rest.”
About 280 children also took part in a pilgrimage walk to the Priory, some walking for 2 hours. Along the way in which, they visited West Eaton Nursing Home, where the youngsters spoke with elderly residents and had refreshments. On arrival on the Priory, they were greeted by monks from Belmont Abbey, in Herefordshire.
To illustrate how the church has modified over the past 900 years, a latest film, Priory Time Travel, shows the architectural elements which have been added and lost. It will run throughout the festival.
Another focus will likely be an exploration of the Herefordshire school of Romanesque sculpture, which is “represented in Leominster Priory by the Norman nave’s west doorway and the window above it”. These feature carvings of animals, birds, human figures, and foliage that flourished in the world within the second quarter of the twelfth century. Talks by architectural historian, Robert Walker, will explore the church’s sculptures within the context of Norman influence within the region.
