The Priory of Our Lady of Guisborough was founded by Robert de Brus in 1119. Like Walsingham it was an Augustininian foundation. Pope Callistus II confirmed the foundation and took Guisborough into the special care and protection of St Peter. In 1263, Henry III granted the town a market and a fair on the vigil, the day and the morrow of the Assumption of Our Lady, the patronal festival of the Priory. The Priory was dissolved on Christmas eve 1539.
Restoration
The Shrine was restored by Father Arthur Mercer in 1949. He was the first Roman Catholic Parish Priest in Guisborough since the Reformation. This was in thanksgiving for the safekeeping of the town in the second world war, despite being on the flight path of enemy bombers. This was attributed to Our Lady. The Shrine was housed in the old St Paulinus Church.
