Norton Priory

Norton Priory, on the edge of Runcorn, was founded as an Augustinian house in 1133 by William FitzNigel, Baron of Halton, and was raised to the status of an abbey in 1391. The surviving remains, comprising the ruins of the abbey church and monastic buildings, are listed Grade I, a designation first made in 1970, and the site is separately protected as a Scheduled Monument, first scheduled in 1928. Following the Dissolution the site passed into private ownership and a house was later built incorporating part of the old priory. Norton Priory is now run as a museum, with its excavated foundations displayed alongside surrounding gardens.