Restorations
Lanercost Priory
Restorations
Following the dissolution the condition of what by then was just the parish church deteriorated badly. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the north aisle was walled off and reroofed and the congregation retreated into it. The remainder of original church was left roofless as shown in this print of 1739. Since that time the Priory has undergone four major restorations.
In 1732 a royal warrant was obtained to allow money to be raised for the restoration of the church and donations (mostly small) came from parishes across the country. In 1740 work began on the restoration. A wall was built separating the original nave from the crossing, with three lancet windows in it. It was at that time that three painted glass windows, taken from "the Dining Room in the Abbey House" were inserted. The wall and the windows can still be seen, with the windows providing a spectacular view of the ruined chancel. A flat plaster roof with built over the nave, with a slate roof above that. In 1747 the congregation were able to move back into the their church. Over the next 100 years the condition of the Priory again deteriorates, and in 1847 part of the roof collapses. The architect Anthony Salvin had been employed by the Earl of Carlisle to rebuild parts of nearby Naworth Castle following a major fire there. He was commissioned to undertaken a major restoration of Lanercost, and the priory was re-opened in 1849. As well as a new roof, Salvin installed pews (but not in quite the same form as we now see them and sit in them). By the 1870s fashion dictated a degree of remodelling and Carlisle architect Charles Ferguson (also responsible for the "restoration" of Bamburgh Castle) was appointed to oversee further work. It was at this point that all the original plasterwork was removed from the walls. The pews were remodelled to give them sloping backs (much more comfortable), the choir stalls were fitted in order to help separate the chancel off from the nave, the barrel vault was added underneath the roof and the organ was installed. The work continued in the 20th century, with a substantial programme of restoration to the walls, roof and windows carried out in three phase, the first starting in 1962 and the third being completed in 1989. Unlike the previous restorations, this one was very much concerned with preserving the Priory, rather than altering it. Behind this programme of work was a major fundraising effort by the members of a what, in numeric terms, is a very small parish and community.