2-888-313 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ruins of the Convent of Franciscan Friars, at Dunwich, [Suffolk], 1850. 'From the discovery of Roman coins here, the idea of a Roman station was consequently adopted. With respect to its ecclesiastical history, we learn that Felix, the Burgundish Bishop, whom Sigebert, King of the East Angles, brought here to re-convert his subjects to Christianity, fixed his episcopal see at Dunwich, in the year 636...there were at Dunwich two houses of Franciscan and Dominican friars; each of which foundations had their respective churches. The walls of this house still remain, within an enclosure of seven acres, with the arches of two out of the three gates by which they were entered...There is nothing remarkable in their construction; but, being covered with ivy, they form a picturesque object'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.