About this Event
St Edith's Church, Monks Kirby
Heritage Open Day: St Edith’s Church is a Grade I listed building, located in Monks Kirby near to Rugby. It dates from 1077 and is the largest parish church in Warwickshire (measuring approximately 110ft by 50ft). The first church on the site of St Edith’s is said to have been founded in 917 by Ethelfleda, daughter of Alfred the Great. However, the current Priory Church of St Edith’s dates from 1077 when Geoffrey de la Guerche, a Breton knight rebuilt the church and gave it as a priory to the Benedictine Abbey of St Nicolas in Anjou in France, naming it in honour of the Virgin Mary and St Denis. In 2017, we will therefore celebrate the 940th anniversary of St Edith’s Church.
In 1266, Henry III granted the monks a fair at Midsummer and a weekly market.