Friarn Street Bridgwater: The Grey Franciscan Friars may have come to Bridgwater as early as 1230

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Friarn Street Bridgwater: The Grey Franciscan Friars may have come to Bridgwater as early as 1230, but it was in 1245 that Henry III ordered that some Franciscans he was sending should be found a site for a church and permanent buildings. Such a site was found in 1246. The friary, or convent, was soon set up. Building was still proceeding on the dormitory in 1278. The first documentary evidence for Friarn Street is 1298, and we may presume that the house and grounds of the Friars Minor could be entered from somewhere along it via the gate, porta fratrum minorum. The Friars seem to have occupied only a modest area of ground and did not apparently own property elsewhere (unlike the Hospitalers of St John in Eastover).

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Location: Friarn Street Bridgwater: The Grey Franciscan Friars may have come to Bridgwater as early as 1230
Photo credit: © Rik Hamilton / Alamy / Afripics
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