CHRISTCHURCH Priory has been named as the best church in the country according to acclaimed author Bill Bryson.

In an interview for the National Churches Trust, the best-selling travel, science and language writer revealed the Priory topped his list of what he claimed to be the best 14 churches across the UK.

It saw off competition from Durham Cathedral, which Mr Bryson ranked as number 10, Church of the Holy Rood at Empshott, ranked 14, and St Mary the Virgin at Iffley in Oxford, at six.

Former Echo sub-editor Mr Bryson called the Priory his "first love".

“This is my first love among English churches," he wrote. "Christchurch, Dorset, was where my wife and I lived when we were first married. I passed through the grounds of the priory almost daily for two years, and I could never do so without stopping to gawp at its magnificence. Stone doesn’t get more glorious than this.

"How so many locals could scurry past it without seeming to notice its presence, never mind its grandeur, was a permanent mystery to me.”

Canon Charles Stewart, who took the helm of the Priory in 2015, said: "This was just quite fascinating to us really. He's very clear and sincere in his love for the Priory.

"He says 'stone doesn't get more glorious than this' - I just love that sentence. Just looking at some of the other churches - there were some quite out-out-of-the-way churches as well as some very large ones.

"I think we were all rather chuffed that we were there at number one.

"This is his personal list. When he says 'my first love' - given his love of this country and the way he has been steeped in our culture and worked with a number of organisations to try to preserve some of our institutions - I think this is a very important statement."

Revd Stewart also referred to England's Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jenkins where the Priory is also mentioned.

He said: "'Of all the great churches in England Christchurch is probably the least well known'. That is very much a juxtaposition alongside Mr Bryson's views.

"It is just a nice good news story."