St Leonard’s Priory, situated in Bromley-by-Bow, Tower Hamlets, is the remains of an ancient church and its grounds, now very overgrown and in need of careful management. The Priory was originally part of a Convent and the site today is a small fraction of the original site of this large Benedictine nunnery, founded by William, Bishop of London, in the time of William the Conqueror. The nunnery housed a Prioress and nine nuns and has been immortalised in English literature as it was the Prioress from this convent who formed the basis for another William, Chaucer to base one of his fictional characters in his great work of the 1480s: The Canterbury Tales.
There is tremendous potential to develop this forgotten space into a local community area for local people to enjoy. In partnership with the Diocese of London, Poplar HARCA and the local community, Trees for Cities will undertake site and archaeological surveys as well as consultation with the residents, community groups and other stakeholders to put together a plan for planting and development of the site. The resulting project will combine the themes of biodiversity, natural play, local history, community ownership and food growing to transform the area. There will be a community consultation event on site on Thursday 24th February 2011, for more details e-mail Richard Lambert.
Photo by Trees for Cities
