Guyzance

Title

Guyzance

Also Known As

Brainshaugh, Branshallghe, Ghines, Gisnis, Gisyng, Guisnes, Guizance, Guynes, Gwyones, Gynes, Gysnes, Gysyns

Dates

Founded 1147-52; dissolved 1530s

Dedication

Wilfrid

Affiliation

Alnwick

Medieval Diocese

Durham

History

The community of sisters at Guyzance was founded ca. 1150 by Richard Tison. The last reference to a prioress of Guyzance dates to 1313. The women's community is thought to have come to an end around the time of the Black Death. The site later became a cell for the abbey of Alnwick, and was dissolved in 1539. Some medieval ruins remain on the site.

Status

Women's community; call from ca. 1350

Bibliography

Knowles, W.H. “Chapelry of Brainshaugh.” In A History of Northumberland, edited by John Crawford Hodgson, 5:476–503. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1899. https://archive.org/details/historyofnorthum05nort/page/476/.

Longstaffe, W.H. “The Church of Guyzance.” Archaeologia Aeliana, Series 2, 3 (1859): 134–45. https://doi.org/10.5284/1059390.

Image Credit

The remains of Guyzance Priory's chapel seen from the River Coquet, 2007. Wikimedia.

Files

Collection

Northern England

Citation

“Guyzance,” A Premonstratensian Atlas, accessed October 16, 2026, https://yvonneseale.org/atlas/items/show/54.

Geolocation