Priory

Priory of Benedictines Saint Nicaise, 12th century

A major place in the Norman history of Christianity, the Benedictine priory of Saint-Nicaise was founded around 680 by Saint Ouen, then Bishop of Rouen, on the legendary sites of the torture of Nicaise, the first Bishop of Rouen, Saint-Quirin and Saint-Scuvicule.

The first servants were the monks of the convent of Saint-Pierre and Paul, which was later to become the abbey of Saint-Ouen-de-Rouen. But the major event that definitively linked Gasny and his priory to Rouen and his abbey was the asylum found in Gasny by the relics of the evangelizer of the Merovingian Neustrie, the future Normandy, the relics of Saint-Ouen.
In May 841, the Normans entered the Seine and delivered Rouen to the Flames. It was then that Riculphe, abbot of Saint-Ouen, had the holy relics transported to the priory of Gasny.
Later on, the priory became a strategic place during the conflict between Henry I of England and Louis le Gros, King of France, who seized it and established a bridgehead in Normandy in 1118.

The visitation records show that the priory had two manor houses.

The first and oldest, built near the parish church on the right bank of the Epte, was located in the Norman Vexin. In 1259, only three monks remained, the land was abandoned and the buildings in ruins. Also, in 1263, the monks moved to a second manor house located beyond the river, in French Vexin, leaving their families and herds in the village’s manor house.

Despite the many prioresses that followed one another from 1260 to 1634, from Roger d’Andely to Dominique Thouraude, the priory was once again in 1678 returned to a state of abandonment.

To locate the second priory, it is enough to cross the bridge on the main branch of the Epte, the road leading to La Roche-Guyon runs along a walled area, between this bridge and the meadows. There is nothing left of the old monastery buildings. The chapel (18th century) stood near the road and a short distance from the river. About 50 or 60 metres away, a few metres from the road, there was once a spring called “Sainte-Nicaise”, which had long been filled by the owner of the place.

In 1691, the priory joined the Jesuit College of Rouen. But this measure did not save the priory since the order was banned and the income from the priory was awarded to the office of the economates and then given in 1761 to the college of Rouen. The long neglected chapel was destroyed in 1789 due to its poor condition and these properties were dispersed in 1790.
Bought in 1988 by the municipality, the largest part of the Priory was renovated and rehabilitated in 1991.