Twycraft & Ye Olde Eight Bells Giftshop

Christchurch Priory, Dorset

Exclusive to Ye Olde Eight Bells Shoppe, Christchurch.

A limited edition of 1000 including the snow version (L3241).

One of the longest parish churches in England, Christchurch Priory is truly a remarkable. There has been a church on the site since AD800, but the present building dates back to 1094. It was during that year that an earlier Saxon church was demolished to make way for the new Priory being planned by Ranulf Flambard, a chief minister of King William II (Rufus). The Norman nave and crossings were all that were to be completed by him, however, as he was appointed Bishop of Durham in 1099. Work continued and by 1150 the church comprisedof a basic Norman cruciform shape and a community of Augustine monks began to inhabit it for the first time.