The Cats of Charnwood Forest
LOCATIONS
By Constantine
CHARACTERS
Grace Dieu Priory was founded between 1235AD and 1241AD by Rose de Verdon  for "Austin nuns" Who are an order that follows the rules of St Augustus.  In the 15th century they descibed themselves as "White Nuns of St. Augustine', No other monatic group in the united kingdom has used that name, and there apears to be no link between this priory and the other Augustine prioys that existed,  The Priory was closed in 1538 when King henry the VIII closed all monestrys For a time it was used as a Tudor manor house but over the years it fell into disrepair. Now there ruins are all that remains.

The Grace Dieu Brook runs past the site and in a small field on the far side is a single Menhir about 3 feet hiigh.  A survey of the area sugests that it is the last of a ting of stones.  It was often the practice to place religious centers like churces and monestrys on top of older sites.
The Priory lies between the north of Thringstone and the south of Osgathorpe.  Thringstone first appears in the national archive records in 1293 as Threnguston.
The modern name would appear to be entirely Anglo saxon,  . Thring being Middle English variation of Throng, and Stone being unchanged. giving it the middle english meaning of "Many-Stones"  
However Its origional form would appear to have an entirely different meaning, It may be of import that one of the first towns to have  convents or priorys in england  connected  with St Augustine Is is named "Guston" and was formed over 100 years before.  Could this be the missing link?

Osghathorpe is a verifiably Viking settlement and Translates as Osgoods Farm.