The Augustinian Priory of Our Lady of Guisborough was founded by Robert De Brus in 1119.

 

The reforming 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 on the morrow of the Assumption of Our Lady.

 

The Priory was dissolved on Christmas Eve 1539.

 

It isn't known what happened to the statue of Our Lady of Guisborough after the Priory was destroyed. But devotion lived on through the Guild of Our Lady and the Recussants. Old legends give hope that "the treasure" was hidden and guarded by a raven. On the first new moon of the new year the ghost of an Augustinian Canon walks beneath the east window to check that "the treasure" is still intact. This could be James Cockerell, the second last prior, martyred at Tyburn on Friday, 25 May, 1537. His soul will rest in peace when devotion to Our Lady is fully restored.

 

The Shrine of Our Lady of Guisborough was restored in 1949 by Father Arthur Mercer, the first Roman Catholic Parish Priest in Guisborough since the Reformation. This was done in thanksgiving for the safekeeping of Guisborough in the second world war, despite being on the flight path of enemy aircraft.This was attribibuted to Our Lady's protection The shrine is housed in St Paulinus Church.