Theatre & Concerts

'Phantoms at the Priory' is Norton Priory's latest art installation.  Following last year's successful 'Mars at the Museum', we're delighted to welcome the phantoms to the museum.

Commissioned specially for Norton Priory by the team behind York's hugely successful 'Ghosts in the Garden', this installation allows visitors to come face to face with some of the characters who have shaped the 900 year history of this remarkable place.

Meet an abbot, take a selfie with a canon, and see a kneeling knight.

Spend some time with Brooke family members, welcome a guest arriving for a summer ball, and find out what upset the Duke of Bridgewater.

Outside, see the Head Gardener at work, tending the vegetable plots.  And there are a few smaller surprises to discover as well.

Come and see the 'echoes of the past' for yourself.  We're open from 10am - 4pm (closing at 5pm from Mothering Sunday). No need to book, pay on arrival at the museum. 

Experience Phantoms at the Priory in a whole new light (or dark!). On selected evenings in February and March the Museum will open after hours so that you can enjoy the spectre of the Phantoms after dark. 

Commissioned specially for Norton Priory by the team behind York's hugely popular 'Ghosts in the Garden'. These installations allow visitors to come face to face with some of the characters who have shaped the 900 year history of Norton Priory. 

Follow the trail around the Museum and Medieval Undercroft to sit before the Duke of Bridgewater, find the three mice and spooky spider, see the lady in the ballgown, an angel's face, an apparition of an arm, the Abbot, a Georgian couple in conversation, and take a seat next to the contemplative Canon. 

Can you capture a photo of a Phantom? 

The lights will be turned down low for this atmospheric experience. 

General Admission daytime tickets are also valid for the evening. The Walled Garden will close in line with normal opening hours. The Museum grounds will close at 5pm. 

FREE for Norton Priory Members. No need to book. 

Experience the magic of pure vocal harmony with The Cheshire Chord Company!

 This versatile and vibrant ladies’ a cappella chorus – multiple award-winners and National champions – brings exciting high-energy performances to the Norton Priory’s stunning atrium.

From heartfelt ballads and jazz to contemporary pop arrangements and a host of upbeat numbers, their repertoire will ensure you are smiling and your feet are tapping!  Originally formed in 1993, the choir includes members from all walks of life, across the North of England.

Whether you’re a barbershop fan or simply love great, live music, this is a wonderful opportunity to immerse yourself in vocal harmony!

A hands-on workshop to learn about grafting fruit trees from an expert tutor. Graft a couple of small apple trees to take home using Norton Priory's heritage apple varieties. The session will be led by Katie Tonge from Heathfield Orchards.

Katie is the former Chief Executive of the Cheshire Landscape Trust and now manages and advises on orchards across Cheshire. She helps to maintain the orchards at Norton Priory and worked with us to create the new Oldfield Orchard.

Award-winning VML Drama bring you a script-in-hand production of a scary tale, as part of Norton Priory's 'Phantoms at the Priory' season. 

Be prepared for jump scares courtesy of special sound effects and the incredible talents of VML Drama's company, as they bring this to life in the presence of an audience. The performance will be narrated by the ‘Master of the Crypt’, who will guide the audience through the story.

The fabulous Norton Priory atrium will prove the perfect back drop for this evening of spine-chilling entertainment. Are you brave enough to attend in the company of the Phantoms of the Priory?

This performance is recommended for ages 12 and up. Doors to the performance space open at 6:30pm, with refreshments available from the Brooke Cafe before the performance and during the interval.

The Liverpool String Quartet returns with friends, to perform a very special evening of music, inspired by 'The Phantoms at the Priory' installation.

The 'Transfigured Night' programme is as follows:
P. I Tchaikovsky - Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70
Interval
Andrew Lloyd Webber - Music of the Night (from 'The Phantom of the Opera')
A. Schoenberg – Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4

The players (Liverpool String Quartet & Friends) are:
Roisin Walters – violin
Adi Brett – violin
Dani Sanxis – viola
Sarah Hill – viola
Nick Byrne – cello
Mark Lindley – cello

Programme Notes
Tchaikovsky’s 'Souvenir de Florence', composed in 1890, is one of his most expansive and expressive chamber works. Written for string sextet, it combines symphonic breadth with moments of intimacy and lyricism, reflecting the warmth and vitality of the composer’s Italian experiences. 'Music of the Night' is the emotional centre of The Phantom of the Opera. In this arrangement for strings, the music takes on a more intimate and atmospheric character, emphasising its nocturnal quality and making a natural connection with the 'Phantoms at the Priory' installation. Schoenberg’s 'Verklärte Nacht', composed in 1899, is a landmark of late-Romantic chamber music. Inspired by a poem by Richard Dehmel, the work unfolds as a continuous narrative, moving from darkness to transformation through rich harmony and intense emotional expression. Though controversial at its premiere, it is now regarded as one of the great chamber works of its time.

About the Ensemble
Liverpool String Quartet & Friends brings together the Quartet’s core members with guest musicians for larger-scale chamber repertoire. The ensemble is known for its expressive playing and imaginative, context-led programming, and performs regularly in concert series, festivals, and special events across the UK and Europe. The Liverpool String Quartet is Ensemble in Residence at Norton Priory.

Join us for the Norton Priory Art Club - monthly drop-in art sessions to help you get creative!

'Still Life' Art and Easy Peasy Ghost pop ups. 

Included in General Admission prices. Drop-in sessions, no need to book. 

A Book Club you don’t have to do the reading for.

We will read something unsettling to you.

Perfect for enjoyers of eerie tales, and those curious to know more about the stories that make their skin crawl... 

Join Norton’s Narrator Gav Cross and author John Reppion as they delve into the stories behind some of your favourite spine-tingling tales. Whether you’re a seasoned ghost story expert or a newcomer to the realm of creepy fiction, Haunted Book Club welcomes all new members with open (and possibly skeletal) arms.

Joining the Phantoms at Norton Priory we will be bringing 'The Curfew' by Lucy M. Boston. This haunted story of open graves and lost bell towers, is widely considered to be inspired by Norton Priory.  Lucy M. Boston, perhaps best known for her 'Green Knowe' series of children's books, lived on the estate before the final demolition of the house. Whatever you do. Don’t ring the bell on the way out…

Join in the conversation or sit quietly in the dark. Whatever you choose. Keep glancing over your shoulder…

Recommended for ages 12+, the performance will last 2 hours, including an interval.  Refreshments will be served by the Brooke Cafe.

You are invited to the Annual Collective Agatha Christie Awards Ceremony. This year's meeting is much more serious, for the chairwoman, the great Russian Agatha Christie fan, Ivona Mantakizanhug, was murdered last week. Now the coveted super sleuth prize is on offer to whoever can solve this all too real and particularly gruesome crime! 

Join the fun and meet France's foremost amateur detective, 'Hercule Parrot', and his arch English rival, 'Ms Jane Marbles'. 

Also here tonight are the newly appointed chairman, the renowned German detective, Clau Trapp and the brilliant American detective, Charlotte Angel. 

Come and join the party and discover that... being an Agatha Christie fan can be MURDER! 

Your evening will start with a glass of prosecco on arrival in the Wine Cellar, followed by a 3 course dinner with tea and coffee in the Medieval Undercroft. With fantastic entertainment from Absolute Murder, will you be a super sleuth or a defective detective? 

MENU
Starter
Leek, Spring Onion and New Potato Veloute 

Main Course
Sticky Beef 
24hr Braised Daube of Beef, Champ Potato, Seasonal Vegetables and a Rich Rioja and Redcurrant Jus 

Dessert 
Grown Up Brownie 
Belgian Chocolate Brownie and Baileys Chocolate sauce served with smooth Vanilla Ice Cream 

Any Dietary requirements will be catered for 

For more information or to provide dietary requirements please contact alison@olivetreecatering.co.uk 01928 599992 

See a medieval master chef in action! 

Included in general admission prices. No need to book. 

FREE for Norton Priory Members. 

Join the hunt for the Easter Bunny at Norton Priory Museum and Gardens. Family fun with trails, craft activities, and a led story walk through the museum woodland to find the Easter Bunny. 

Included with General Admission prices. 
(Adults £13.50, Children FREE, Norton Priory Members FREE). 

Plant Hunters' Fairs returns to Norton Priory on Sunday 31st May!

There will be a tremendous range of plants available for sale from a host of favourite specialist plant growers.

The fair is held next to the 2.5 acre Georgian Walled Garden, with entry to the fair priced at £1 per person. For an additional £5, visitors can wander through the Walled Garden itself, whilst Early Bird advance tickets for the whole site are priced at £9.00 per adult. Up to three children are permitted access to the whole site per paying adult.

This special price of £9 will not be available on the day. There is free car parking on-site and the Brooke Cafe will be providing refreshments throughout the day. Please note for this event the Fair and the Walled Garden are open from 10am - 4pm, and the museum and woodlands are open from 10am - 5pm.

Award-winning Immersion Theatre Company proudly presents an unforgettable adaptation of William Shakespeare’s iconic, 'Romeo & Juliet'.

This powerful story of forbidden love and bitter rivalry is brought to life in a visual spectacle infused with comedy, heart-break, and danger. Moving, funny, and tragic in equal measure, this beautiful production will see Immersion continue to build on their reputation for producing Shakespeare for all, be it the seasoned theatre-goer or budding literary enthusiast.

This is Shakespeare as it’s meant to be: interactive, fun, and highly accessible!

Recommended age: 10+ Approximate run time: Act 1 – 50 minutes / Interval / Act 2 – 40 minutes

This is an outdoor theatre performance. Please dress accordingly for the weather. In extreme weather, the performance will be moved inside.

This is a Culture 26 event, celebrating Halton's year of culture.

Frederick, accidentally apprenticed to Pirates as a child, is indentured to the Pirate King until his 21st birthday. On the day he reaches 21 he leaves the ship, announcing that he now intends to dedicate his life to the Pirates’ destruction. The Pirate King checks the contract’s small print – and realises that as Frederick’s birthday is 29th February on a leap year he has only had four birthdays and is actually indentured for another 63 years. With only the Penzance constabulary to protect him, will Frederick be forced to serve the pirates until he is 84?  And will his sweetheart, Mabel, wait for him that long? Performed by a six-strong cast of actor/singers with fully orchestrated accompaniment, The Pirates of Penzance boasts such gloriously memorable songs as “To be a Pirate King!”; “Modern Major General” and “A Policeman’s Lot is Not a Happy One”. With razor sharp satire and glittering wit, it remains as fresh as if it had been written today. 

Running time: 120-minutes (approx.), including a 20-minute interval. 

Recommended for all ages. 

In this play Shakespeare explores Love in all its guises. Four pairs of soulmates meet in the mysterious Forest of Arden. One pair leap straight into bed. Another pair are instantaneously dumbstruck by each other’s beauty and pledge their undying troth. The third pair torment each other: he showers chaste love upon her which she haughtily rejects - yet secretly she enjoys the flattery. The fourth pair go further still, playfully blurring their roles and identities to such an extent that flirting becomes more pain than pleasure, and Love itself is pushed to the limit of its endurance – and beyond. Throughout the summer Shakespeare’s iconic comedy will be performed where its action is set – in the great outdoors, by a 5-strong cast of classically trained professional actors. Multi international award-winning Illyria has an unmatched reputation for excellence, forged over three decades, that dominates the outdoor touring theatre sector. Join them this summer for a memorable night of laughter and romance under the stars. 

Running time: 140-minutes (approximately), including a 20-minute interval.  

Suitable for all ages.  

Immersion Theatre are thrilled to bring their trademark energy to their wildly entertaining musical adaptation of the Rudyard Kipling family favourite, THE JUNGLE BOOK!

Filled with original music, audience interaction, and a host of larger-than-life characters, you are invited to join Mowgli and his friends, Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther, on a madcap jungle adventure as they meet and attempt to outwit a slithering snake, some cheeky monkeys, and the fierce tiger, Shere Khan!

Funny, exciting and wildly entertaining, this AOOO-some musical will have you howling with laughter: It’s the perfect treat for the whole family!

Recommended age: 4+ Approximate run time: Act 1 – 45 minutes / Interval / Act 2 – 40 minutes
This is an outdoor theatre performance. Please dress accordingly for the weather. In extreme weather, the performance will be moved inside.

Part of Culture 26, celebrating Halton's year of culture.