Easter celebrated at Wenlock Priory once more after 500 years
The last time its nave was packed with worshippers for Easter, Henry VIII was on the throne.
But new life was breathed into Wenlock Priory, the monastery at the heart of Much Wenlock, as about 200 people filled the ruins for a very special service this weekend.
The Easter Sunday service at 11am was led by Rev Matthew Stafford from the nearby Parish Church of the Holy Trinity – who noted the last serving prior at the monastery, before Henry VIII shut it down in 1540, was a namesake of his, one John Stafford.
Rev Stafford said the use of the unusual setting had come about out of necessity.
He said: "We as a church at Holy Trinity have been lucky enough to get a Listed Places of Worship Grant for repair work but that means our church is shut for three months.
"We had to think outside of the box for where we could hold an Easter service. Being in a wonderful team ministry of 14 churches and 13 parishes, we weren't short of churches to go to but because we have this tremendous Christian heritage with the priory at Much Wenlock, we thought why not see if we could do it in the grounds?"
He said he thought English Heritage, which looks after the priory, might be cautious about it, but the national body welcomed the idea.
"I was expecting to have to jump through all kinds of hoops but they couldn't do enough to make it happen," he said.
"The result was we got about 200 people in the priory ground celebrating Easter and it was a real cross section of people, young and old.
"We set everything up where the altar would have been and everybody filled the nave and we were very fortunate that the weather held. It was really special."
He said it was also a cross-denominational service with people from various Christian traditions, helped by the fact that this year's Easter celebrations fall on the same Sunday for Anglican and Catholic alike, despite their different calendar calculating traditions.
"We all gathered and sat down and celebrated the true meaning of Easter. There's always a danger that with celebrations like Easter and Christmas you just go through the motions, so it was great to do something with a greater connection to what Easter is all about," he added.
Holy Trinity is expected to reopen for the first Sunday of June.
