Burwell Priory

a late summer grassy field, and beyond on the highest ground a greenstone church tower
St Michael's church, Burwell.
The field in the foreground is approximately the position for the earthworks mentioned in the Pastscape listing as the probable site of the Priory[1]

Burwell Priory was a priory in the village of Burwell, Lincolnshire, England.

The priory was built around 1110 for Benedictine monks, by Ansgot of Burwell, who addressed his charter to Robert, Bishop of Lincoln 1094-1123.[2][3][4]

The priory motherhouse was Grande-Sauve Abbey, in Aquitaine, France,[1] which at the time was ruled by the Kings of England. When England and France went to war, the priory came under threat and was seized in 1337 and again in 1342, but restored when the Prior swore allegiance to the King.[2] However, in 1386 the priory was again seized, and conclusion of the war meant that it was considered an alien cell. On the death of Prior Peter de Monte Ardito in 1427, the priory was found to be in a ruinous state, and it was dissolved with the land being granted to the college of Tattershall.[2]

After this the lands were granted to Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.[3]

  1. ^ a b Historic England. "Burwell Priory (354216)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Page, William, ed. (1 January 1906). "Alien houses: The priory of Burwell". A History of the County of Lincoln: Volume 2. Victoria County History. pp. 238–239. ISBN 9780712910453. Retrieved 24 May 2011.
  3. ^ a b Dugdale, Sir William (1846) [1693, in Latin]. Monasticon Anglicanum a History of the Abbies and Other Monasteries and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches in England and Wales. Translation. Translated by Caley, John; Ellis, Sir Henry; Badinel, Revd. Buckley. John Bohn, Charing cross. p. 1015. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
    See also: Dugdale, Sir William (1693). Monasticon Anglicanum, or, The history of the ancient abbies, and other monasteries, hospitals, cathedral and collegiate churches in England and Wales. With divers French, Irish, and Scotch monasteries formerly relating to England. London: Sam Keble. Retrieved 14 April 2013.
  4. ^ Knowles, D; Hadcock, R.N (1953). Medieval religious houses in England and Wales. p. 83.