' Ware Priory '

From a medieval friary; where weary travellers including Royalty stayed en route to London, to an Ancient Monument used by a town council to serve a modern town - that is the briefest history of Ware's Priory.

The original friary was founded in 1338 (no one knows the story of how it came to be known as The Priory). After the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII in the 1530s, the building has undergone many phases of construction and alteration during its 650-year life.

Being in private ownership, a hospital during the first World War, and then in 1920 the then owner, Mrs Anne Elizabeth Page Croft, daughter of Mr. Henry Page, one of the most influential maltsters of Ware in the 18th century, gave the Priory, then valued at the huge sum of £10,000 to the town. Ware Town Council as Trustees of the Priory Charity are now the freeholders.

Taking the Priory into the 21st century has been a major conservation project. Much remains of the known Friary buildings. The original back walls of the cloister are probably indicated by the main beam that runs the length of the present hall and by the heavy west wall of the entrance hall. Much of the main wall structure almost certainly survives from the 15th century, and a very strong indication of this is the roof construction. One of the crown posts is now restored and exposed in a beautifully appointed room.

After this major programme of restoration and refurbishment, providing function rooms, offices and a restaurant on the site of the old Victorian conservatory at the rear, the building was officially re-opened by HRH the Duke of Gloucester in November 1994.

In 1995 the Priory was one of the first venues in East Herts to be licensed for civil marriage ceremonies and there are 3 rooms, including the main hall, the Council Chamber and the Hadsley Room (with its magnificent crown post) where weddings can take place.

The seven acres of riverside grounds are fully open to the public and include gardens, playground, tennis courts, a heated open air swimming pool and give access to a bowling green and putting green.

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