- Leez Priory
Infobox Historic building
name = Leez Priory
caption =
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latitude = 51.839473
longitude = 0.467235
location = Leez Ln, Hartford End
location_town =Chelmsford
location_country =England
architect =
client =Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich
engineer =
construction_start_date =
completion_date =
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size =Leez Priory is a 16th century mansion near
Chelmsford inEssex ,England .History
In 1220, Sir Ralph Gernon decided that the
hamlet of Leez, in a dip by the banks of the River Ter, would provide the perfect location on which to found hismonastery . HisAugustinian priory thrived for over 300 years untilKing Henry VIII sent [Sir Richard Rich to dismiss the monastery. When Sir Richard Rich became theEarl of Warwick , he built his own great house on the site that is now known as Leez Priory.In the years that followed, the mansion has been home to the Earls of Warwick and has been visited by
Queen Elizabeth I ,Princess Mary and many other nobles from the past.In the late 1980’s, Leez Priory was purchased by its current owners, The Country House Weddings group. In May 1995, Leez became the first country house in
England to be granted a licence to conduct civil ceremonies and today it prides itself on being a sought-after wedding venue. [cite news |first=Ross |last=Clark |title=Get me to the house on time |url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2005/04/02/pmanor02.xml&sSheet=/property/2005/04/02/ixptop12.html |work=The Telegraph |date=2005-04-02 |quote=The buyer was the Country House Weddings Group, which already owns Leez Priory near Chelmsford, a 15-bedroom house that it has been using for weddings since the mid-1990s. With 80 weddings a year, Leez Priory is now running at full capacity, hence the need for an alternative property. ]References
External links
* [http://www.brideshead.co.uk/leez_main.html Leez Priory Wedding Venue and Reception Venue]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/essex/360/leez_priory.shtml BBC - Essex 360 Images - Leez Priory]
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