straide friary

Straide Friary was founded under the patronage of Jordan de Exeter around 1240 for the Franciscans, but at the insistence of his daughter-in-law, Basilia Birmingham, it was transferred to the Dominicans in 1252. The surviving church has a thirteenth century chancel with six small lancet windows, but the rest of the building dates from a fifteenth-century restoration. Its two treasures date from the restoration: a high altar with elegant decorations including a Pieta flanked by donors and a delightfully sculptured tomb with flamboyant tracery.

There are eight figure carvings on the front of the tomb, left to right: three crowned figures (The Maji); Christ showing the Five Wounds; a layman holding a shell to his ear; a mitred bishop with a crozier, St Peter and St Paul. One can only marvel at the skill of the fifteenth century craftspeople who decorated this tomb and friary.