Norton Priory Museum & Gardens — Attraction in England

📌 Norton Priory

As locals, we’ve visited Norton Priory multiple times throughout the years, and each visit continues to be a fascinating and immersive experience ! 🌿

Norton Priory offers a unique glimpse into the past, combining historical intrigue with beautiful gardens. The museum and grounds perfectly blend history and nature, featuring artifacts from the medieval priory and a peaceful walled garden that provides a tranquil escape. The museum does a fantastic job of bringing the site's 900-year history to life through interactive exhibits, videos, and fascinating relics.

We love exploring the ruins of the priory, walking through the impressive walled garden, and enjoying a stroll around the woodland paths. The medicinal herb garden is always a highlight, offering insight into the plants and herbs used by the monks centuries ago.

Norton Priory also hosts a variety of events throughout the year, making each visit unique. From Halloween ghost tours that delve into the spooky history of the priory (with a spooky witch walk) to Christmas markets filled with local crafts and festive cheer, there’s always something happening. These events are a fantastic way to engage with the history and celebrate the seasons in a beautiful setting.

The staff are also incredibly knowledgeable and friendly, always ready to share insights into the history of the priory and answer any questions we have. Their passion for the site enhances our visits, making each trip enjoyable.

If you’re looking for a peaceful day out with a blend of history and nature, the Priory is definitely worth a visit! It never fails to impress and offers something new to discover each time. Kids love it too.

RATING ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

📍Tudor Road, Runcorn, WA7 1SX 💰16+: £8.50, 16-: free with paying adult. 🔄 Yes, we will...

A fascinating little museum and archaeological site. I came here on a group visit, and we were taken on a guided tour that lasted an hour. The reception staff and volunteers were all welcoming and helpful, but our guide in particular was very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, and we learned so much about this site's long and eventful history. It was fascinating to hear about life in the 12th century priory and how in later centuries a Tudor hall, and then a Georgian mansion, were built by the Brooke family on top of and around its ruins. Accessed through an even later Victorian porch, the vaulted undercroft is remarkably well-preserved with a beautiful tiled floor. Was very impressed with the huge 14th century St Christopher statue and the digital image showing how it looked when it was vividly coloured. The museum is full of stone architectural fragments, carved stone coffin lids, pottery and all manner of medieval, Tudor and Georgian artefacts excavated on this site. The skeletons and their facial reconstructions were really interesting. All the exhibits were well lit and clearly labelled, and there were info boards, artist's impressions, and interactive displays especially for children. Some good views of the priory ruins from the upstairs gallery. There's a café where you can get light meals as well as cakes and drinks, some accessible toilets, a nice gift shop and free parking. Did not get time to explore the woodland or visit the walled garden, but I'll definitely do that next...

This is a low-key venue: and that is not to say that the staff are inattentive or the artefacts on display are uninteresting. Quite the opposite: this is an interesting museum to visit and the staff are friendly and helpful and prepared to talk. The lack of formality is bestowed by the rural setting and the informality of the archaeological remains, which are balanced by the fine collection of indoor exhibits, and their variety, so that there will be something that is bound-to capture the attention of visitors with diverse interests. Again, the cafes, which have been commented-on by others, with one next-to the walled-garden and the other within the museum, have a curious combination of efficiency and simplicity bestowed upon them by the home-baking on offer and the friendly staff. The walled garden was not at it's best at the time of my visit, in October. The prospects for seeing fine displays of vegetables and flowers growing there, earlier in the year, are obvious. Produce from the garden was on-sale in the shop and I can testify to the excellence of the Pear-and-walnut chutney, the Quince marmalade and the potatoes that I brought away with me. I can also testify to the excellence of the two, small, Russett apples that I enjoyed during my visit; and the several, tasty, French beans that I rescued from their rather woody pods as I sat in quiet contemplation. Do not begin your visit with preconceptions; just go, and you will...