A monastery was established in Leominster perhaps as early as the seventh century. This monastery later became a nunnery but collapsed after the kidnap of the abbess Eadgifu by the Danes in 1046. In the 12th century Reading Abbey established a Benedictine priory in Leominster. The priory was quite possibly built on top of the earlier Saxon religious sites.
The priory was destroyed in 1539 when most of the monastic buildings including part of the priory church were lost. Most of the church survived and continues to serve as a parish church to this day.
