Michelham Priory House & Gardens

About the venue

Augustinian priory founded in 1229 on an island near Hailsham, ringed by England's longest medieval water-filled moat and run by the Sussex Archaeological Society. Civil ceremonies in the Priory Chamber, the Elizabethan Great Barn or on the lawns, with the 130-capacity barn also hired for corporate events and parties.

In 1942 Canadian troops stationed at Michelham Priory planned their part of the Dieppe Raid there. Three years earlier, the owners had taken in evacuees from Rotherhithe. Gilbert de L'Aigle founded the Augustinian priory in 1229, and Henry VIII dissolved it in 1537. The Crown sold it into private hands in 1556, and it then spent four centuries as a working estate and farm.

A fire in 1927 led to major rebuilding. Stella Hotblack bought the buildings and moat in 1958, and the following year the site passed in trust to the Sussex Archaeological Society. The island is ringed by England's longest medieval water-filled moat and entered through a medieval gatehouse. Its seven acres hold the Elizabethan Great Barn, a watermill and kitchen, physic and medieval herb gardens.

The Priory is licensed for civil ceremonies in three places: the Priory Chamber in the Tudor house, the Great Barn and the lawns. The barn has a vaulted, beamed ceiling strung with fairy lights and its own bar. It has a courtyard garden at the front and a private walled garden, used for lawn games and for watching the sun set over the moat. Weddings run all year, indoors or out.

For corporate hire the barn holds 130, with chairs, tables, a projector and screen. Catering is available, parking is free, and the whole hire fee goes towards protecting Sussex history. Inside the house are a historic kitchen and a wartime evacuees' bedroom. The Blue Door Café opens Tuesday to Sunday and needs no admission ticket. Dogs on a short lead can walk the grounds but not enter the buildings.

Augustinian priory founded in 1229

England's longest medieval moat

Medieval gatehouse, seven acres

Ceremonies in the Priory Chamber

Fairy-lit Elizabethan Great Barn

Lawn ceremonies, all year

Barn for 130 corporate guests

Free on-site parking