Holy Trinity Priory

Holy Trinity Priory. . , Establishment and life , You are standing within the cloister of Holy Trinity Priory, the earliest and among the richest of the City of London's monastic houses., Amidst the mainly timber and brick buildings on surrounding streets, Holy Trinity Priory would have been a distinctive complex of stone buildings, with much fine glazing and ornamentation. It abutted the landmarks of the City wall and Aldgate. Established by 1108, from the outset the Priory seems to have been especially popular with the elite, with burials on the site displaying characteristics of high-status individuals. Two of King Stephen's children were buried in chapels either side of the altar in the priory church in the years shortly before 1147, and London's first mayor, Henry FitzAilwin, was also buried within the Priory. Much rebuilding occurred from the late 12th century until about 1350, a further indication of the Priory's wealth., Dissolution and subsequent fragmentation , During the English reformation, Holy Trinity Priory was the first monastic house to be dissolved by Henry VIII, in 1532, three years before the general Dissolution. The Priory and its site passed to Thomas Audley, who as Speaker and then as Lord Chancellor was a key figure in the break with the Catholic church. Chancellor Audley adapted the Priory buildings in to a house, often used as an informal gaol for suspects accused of treason. After his death here in 1544 the Priory site became the property of the Duke of Norfolk; the name of nearby Duke’s Place commemorates this fact. The Dissolution removed the then familiar sight of monks, friars and nuns from the City streets, silenced their bells and choirs, and undid their charitable and medical works causing profound social and religious change. Following its sale to the City Corporation in 1592, the Priory buildings and old Tudor mansions were fragmented into smaller houses and industrial premises. A Priory chapel became the parish church of St Katharine Cree on Leadenhall Street, rebuilt in its present form in 1631. The old Priory ruins gradually became submerged by new buildings and development., Catherine Eddowes , In the early hours of 30 September 1888, the body of Catherine Eddowes , victim of the notorious Whitechapel Murders, more commonly known as ‘Jack the Ripper’ , was discovered in Mitre Square., In the Summer of 1888, Eddowes had been casually employed hop-picking in Kent. Back in London, on the night before her death, she is recorded as staying in a workhouse. The following day she was arrested for drunkenness in Aldgate High Street, giving her name as “nothing”. Within an hour of her release, she was found murdered.