The former north transept of the priory church, reinforced with steel and concrete, was used as a spigot mortar base during WWII. The priory was founded in 1113 by William de Glanvill, and is said to once have possessed a piece of the true cross, making it one of the most holy places in Europe and one of the largest pilgrimage centres in East Anglia. King Henry III was one of the pilgrims in 1226, and on 6th April of the same year he granted Bromholm the right to hold a fair of three days for the festival of the Exaltation of the Cross (14th-17th September). and its name has been immortalised in Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales". The Broomholm monks are said to have used it to cure diseases, and even to raise people from the dead. In February 1537 the chief commissioner of Henry VIII was sent to Broomholm to collect the relics and the cross disappeared from history. The priory was suppressed in 1536.
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