Sandwell Priory

Sandwell Priory
Basic information
Location	West Bromwich, England
Geographic coordinates	52°31′11″N 1°57′53″W / 52.51980°N 1.96471°W / 52.51980; -1.96471Coordinates: 52°31′11″N 1°57′53″W / 52.51980°N 1.96471°W / 52.51980; -1.96471
Heritage designation	Scheduled ancient monument
Architectural description
Completed	1100s

Sandwell Priory was a small medieval Benedictine monastery house, near West Bromwich, then part of Staffordshire, England. Founded in the 12th century, it had a fairly turbulent history and was dissolved in 1525 – more than a decade before the main Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII

Foundation and dedication

The precise date of the foundation of Sandwell Priory is not known, as the charter does not survive, but it seems that a hermitage stood at the site, next to the well which gives the place its name, for some time before the priory itself was established.^[1] The foundation date is generally given as 1190, although it could have been at least ten years earlier. The founder of the priory was William, son of Guy de Offeni. Guy is known to have held West Bromwich around 1140 and was still alive in 1155. William was in charge by 1166 and was succeeded by his son, Richard, by 1212, although he may have survived a little longer.^[2]

William was a principal tenant Gervase de Paynel or Pagnell, who held the lordship of Dudley, his grandfather having married Beatrice, the heiress of William Fitz-Ansculf^[3] the great territorial magnate who held much of the Midlands after the Norman Conquest. The promotion of monasticism was evidently a shared interest of lord and tenants. When Gervase founded Dudley Priory around the middle of the 12th century as a daughter house to Wenlock Priory, Guy de Offeni, his wife Christiana and son William donated to it the church at Wombourne for the salvation of their own souls.^[4]

William established a house of Benedictine monks dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. Gervase's confirmation of William's grants is the main surviving evidence of the foundation and original endowments of Sandwell Priory.

Endowments

William gave the monks land at the hermitage by the Sandwell to build a monastery^[1] – a clear indication of an earlier religious use for the site. The Victoria County History chapter on the priory seems to suggest that William also gave them his share of the church and a house at Ellesborough in Buckinghamshire, although quoting a provision to the effect that it belonged to the barony of Dudley. The relevant volume on Buckinghamshire confirms that the advowson was a grant from Gervase de Paynel,^[5] subscribing to William's project as William had subscribed to his.

There were other examples of monasteries replacing earlier hermitages – notably Haughmond Abbey in Shropshire, founded by the powerful FitzAlan family, also in the 12th century.^[6] However, William's family were only fairly minor landowners and, although he gave generously from what he had, the priory was not well-endowed at the outset. He was able donate some of his own tenants at West Bromwich. He also gave various geographically-defined resources, not all of them now recognisable. There was Wavera in Handsworth – perhaps a water feature like a pond or weir; an assart or patch of farmland taken from the royal forest, called Ruworth; Duddesrudding; an area of land between Petulf Greene and the main road, apparently adjacent to the donation at Handsworth; a puteum – generally a well but possibly a pit^[7] - at West Bromwich; a watermill at Grete - by Greets Green, the other side of West Bromwich. William also granted the monks tithes of his own household's production – their breadmaking, hunting, mills, bread, ale, and ferculorum – of the very platters of food cooked in his kitchens table.;^[8] and wood for burning and building. A very valuable grant to the monks was pasture in all seasons and for whatever animals they wished in the manor of West Bromwich.

The most important endowment was the block of land on the eastern side of West Bromwich parish, along the boundary with Handsworth, which formed the kernel of the priory's estates. The monks exercised manorial jurisdiction over the estates, with the right to hold a manorial court like other landowners.^[2]

The endowments of the priory grew piecemeal over the years and successive priors fought legal battles to maintain its rights and privileges. There were major contests between the priors and the Parles family of Handsworth in the 13th century - initially over land but later over advowson of the church at Handsworth, which the priory claimed it shared with Lenton Priory, near Nottingham.^[1] The net result of the compromises reached was that the priory lost any share of the advowson but gained a messuage (a house with its adjoining land) worth a mark or 13s. 4d. a year in Birmingham and rent of 20s. A year from a mill in Hamstead, on the River Tame. Another long-running but more intermittent struggle confirmed the priory's advowson at Ellesborough against the challenges of local landowners. Around 1230 Worcester Priory, the Benedictine chapter of Worcester Cathedral, farmed to Sandwell the church at West Bromwich in perpetuity. Sandwell thus took the revenues of the church but agreed to pay 6 marks, i.e. £4, annually to Worcester and to meet all the costs of the church.

There was a further period of acquisitive activity in the second half of 14th century, after the Black death had depressed land values. In 1365 Sandwell acquired property at Padbury in Buckinghamshire: a house and a virgate of land – nominally 30 acres. From 1388 there was an attempt to acquire the farm of Alberbury Priory in Shropshire. Alberbury was of the Grandmontine order, a dependency of the mother house in the Limousin, and so an alien priory subject to royal confiscation whenever there was war or even tension with France. It was available to farm at a rent of 20 marks^[9] but ultimately negotiations were fruitless. In 1398 the priory was able to appropriate its share of Ellesborough church,^[1] an acquisition which required authorisation from the Pope. This allowed to collect the tithes, so long as it made provision for a priest to serve the needs of the parish. The inevitable result was a gradual decline of provision and a decay of the church fabric while the priory used the funds for other purposes. At some point the priory acquired a fulling mill at Fazeley, which it leased out. By the time of its dissolution in 1525 the priory also had two watermills at West Bromwich, and lands in various places around the West Midlands, including Dudley, Tipton, Great Barr, Little Barr, Harborne, Coston Hackett, Wombourne, and Wednesbury.

The priory buildings

The priory buildings stood in a rectangular enclosure, with boundary ditches on at least three sides.^[10] Initially there were two wooden domestic buildings, adjoining a stone church, which later became the chancel as the nave was extended westwards from it. The wooden buildings were rebuilt in stone within a few decades and then partially rebuilt again a century later.

The church in its completed form was oriented to the east. It had a crossing, with north and south transepts. The chancel had an apsidal east end. The crossing was surmounted by a rectangular bellfry. There were pairs of chapels to both north and south. In the 15th century the church was reduced in size – understandably in view of the small size of the community. A survey of 1526 measured the chancel at 41 feet long and 18 feet wide and the nave at 57 × 18 feet,^[1] so it was probably well over 100 feet or 30 metres at its largest.

The cloister and residential buildings stretched to the north of the church. Large, two-storey buildings surrounded the cloister, including the kitchens and stores. In addition to the main complex, there was a gatehouse with guardroom, a large barn 72 × 24 and a hayhouse, a kilnhouse, a stable, and a thatched watermill.

To the north of the buildings were at least two fishponds.^[10] The spring to the south was channelled to supply the priory with water for the kitchens and to flush the reredorter or latrine, and also to fill the ponds.

• Remains of Sandwell Priory
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  The priory church from the east.

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  The outline of the cloister.

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  Remains of the north chapels.

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  Remains of north transept with sacristy beyond.

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  The presbytery or chancel, photographed from the west.

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  Remains of the south chapels photographed from the chancel.

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  The south transept and south chapels.

• 

  Tomb in the chancel.

Conflict and disorder

Sandwell Priory seems to have had a turbulent history and to have lacked real vigour as a community. There were serious tensions within the priory, between the monks and lay people, and between the priory and other ecclesiastical institutions.

The Parles disputes

The priory was soon involved in a series of disputes with the Parles family that lasted for several decades. In 1211 William de Parles sued the prior for 10 acres in Sandwell and in 1212 for 10 acres in Handsworth. The precise connection of the Parles family with Handsworth, to the south-east of the priory, is unclear. The manor had been part of William Fitz-Ansculf's huge holdings and would have passed via the Paynels to their successors, the de Somery family, as part of the lordship of Dudley. However, not until 1242 is there clear evidence that John de Parles held Handsworth from Roger de Somery as an under-tenant.^[11] It is possible that Pain de Parles acquired a foothold at Handsworth in the 12th century through his wife, Alice, but documentation is no longer extant. William de Parles claimed lands in Handsworth by right of Pain and Alice. The lay advocate of the priory was now Richard, son of the founder and grandson of Guy de Offeni.^[1] The prior called upon him to vindicate the priory's claim to the land. The result of the case is unknown. William de Parles seems to have adhered to the rebel side against King John in the First Barons' War. In 1216 his Handsworth lands were confiscated and granted to Robert de Teneray.^[11] In 1222 he gave up his claim to the Sandwell land in return for £5, given to him by the advocate, Richard.^[1] However, Richard died without issue shortly after and was succeeded by his brother, William, who survived for only two more years. In 1224 William de Parles took advantage of a perceived weakness to claim half the advowson of the priory, alleging that it was he who had presented Prior Reynold during the reign of King John. William the advocate died before the case could be settled, leaving a young son, William, as heir.^[2] The case was adjourned sine die.^[1]

William de Parles himself was dead by 1227^[11] John de Parles now successfully claimed half the advowson of Handsworth from the priory, the other hald remaining with Lenton Priory, although he gave the priory a house in Birmingham as compensation.^[1] The disputes with the Parles family abated for thirty years. However, in 1260 William de Parles attacked the prior with an armed gang. The prior made good his escape and William was subsequently hanged for his crimes.

Indiscipline and decline

In 1324, the newly elected Richard de Eselberg sought to establish his authority with support from Roger Northburgh, a vigorous, reforming the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield. Northburgh wrote to the monks personally, urging obedience to the prior and denouncing one of the community for wandering about in secular dress. About the same time, he excommunicated on behalf of the priory a group of laymen who had been removing or sequestering its property. In 1339 a letter from the Papal Curia in Avignon referred to Robert Ingheram, a monk of Sandwell, who had apparently left his order and wished to be reconciled.^[12]

However, priors were sometimes themselves in serious trouble. In 1341 the prior intervened in a dispute at Tettenhall, where there had long been conflict over the status of the College of St Michael as a royal chapel.^[1] With the ecclesiastical authorities, up to the Pope himself, trying to wrest away control,^[13] over the appointment of a prebendary of Codsall, the king, Edward III, ordered the arrest of the prior and his chaplain.^[1]

The Black Death seems to have brought the priory to a particularly low ebb. When Prior Richard le Warde died in 1349, Nicholas de Cumpton had to be appointed in his place as he was the only other monk in the community. In 1355 the aging Bishop Northburgh wrote denouncing poor financial management. In 1361, when Prior William del Ree died, there was agin only one other monk, Henry of Kidderminster, who became the new prior.

The Shrewsbury party

The malaise encouraged Shrewsbury Abbey to attempt a take-over. It seems that the Abbot of Shrewsbury, the long-lived Nicholas Stevens,^[14] encouraged one Richard Tudenham to put himself forward as the rightful prior against the holder of the office, Prior John de Kyngeston.^[1] In 1370 Kyngeston was attacked by five men and suffered an arrow wound in the arm. He instigated protracted legal action against Stevens. However, in 1379 he was abducted by a gang consisting of Stevens himself, the rector of Handsworth and two monks of Shrewsbury. He was held at a house in Sleap, north of Shrewsbury, and forced to sign a resignation document. Only one monk remained at Sandwell and Richard Westbury, one of the Shrewsbury monks involved in the abduction, was made prior by the Bishop Robert de Stretton.

Westbury now found himself challenged by Tudenham, the original pretender to the office. Tudenham obtained a decision from the Pope appointing him prior and began an action against Westbury in the Church courts. However, he had unwittingly fallen foul of the Statute of Provisors, a law of 1350 probiting just such appointments by the Pope. He was arrested and summoned before the king's council. Westbury was not always victorious in law, however, and was sued for delivery of a bond in 1387 by John Marnham. The Marnham family now held half of the manor of West Bromwich^[2] and this marked a low point in the priory's relations with its lay patrons.

When the time came in 1391 to elect Westbury's successor, there was again only one monk left in the priory. He promptly elected William Pontesbury, a monk of Shrewsbury and a close friend of Westbury.^[1] However, the new Bishop, Richard le Scrope, annulled his choice and brought in John of Tamworth from Coventry as prior – one of at least three occasions in the 14th century when the election of a prior was overturned by a bishop. However, this was not the end of the struggle. In 1397 Alexander Leddesham, aided by an armed gang, drove Tamworth out and for some time occupied his place. The ambitious Abbot Stevens died in 1399^[14] and this may have made it easier to accept a prior from Shrewsbury. In 1401, Archbishop Thomas Arundel, restored to office by the new regime of Henry IV was conducting a canonical visitation and personally appointed John de Acton, a monk of Shrewsbury, as successor to Tamworth.^[1] His successor, Richard Dudley, was accused of harbouring murderes and thieves in 1414, although he was bailed and ultimately pardoned.

Dissolution

In 1524 Cardinal Thomas Wolsey – then at the height of his power and influence as Lord Chancellor and Archbishop of York – decided to found a new, eighth college for Oxford University, which was to be called Cardinal College. To finance this, he proposed to suppress the Priory of St Frideswide, Oxford and a number of other monasteries around the country, most of them small or decayed. Sandwell was an obvious target, with a long history of abuses and conflict and a very small community – back at that point to the prior and a single monk. They were transferred to other Benedictine houses, although Thomas Cromwell later tried to install the monk as parish priest at West Bromwich. The priory and its properties were valued at less than £40 a year – the spiritualities (income from tithes and religious functions) at £12 and the temporalities (rents and dues) at £26 8s. 7d.

Sandwell Priory was dissolved in February 1525. The king conveyed its property to Wolsey in January 1526 and Wolsey transferred it to the college in the following month. However, with the fall and death of Wolsey in 1529, the property reverted to the Crown and was not granted to the successor college, King's, which later became Christ Church, Oxford. Thomas Cromwell stayed at Sandwell in 1530 and held a sale of goods that raised £21.

After dissolution

Sandwell was a useful windfall for a monarchy perennially in debt and was used to reduce future outgoings. It was included in a group of properties granted by the Crown to Dame Lucy Clifford in exchange for her share of a pension that she had inherited from the estate of the Marquess of Montagu^[2] When she died in 1557, it passed to her grandson, John Cutte, who later sold it to the Whorwood family of Compton Hallows, near Kinver. During the 16th century some of the priory buildings were renovated to create a comfortable private home, known as Priory House.^[10] The church was still largely standing in 1588 but was demolished shortly after.

After the tribulations of the English Civil War and subsequent indebtedness, the Whorwoods sold Sandwell in 1701 to William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth,^[2] who was created 1st Earl of Dartmouth in 1711. Sandwell Park became an important estate of the Earls of Dartmouth, who owned over 2000 acres in the area by 1845. A large new Georgian house was built directly adjoining the eastern end of the priory site, and reusing some of its foundations and masonry.^[10] However, the earls acquired a further seat in the West Midlands at Patshull Hall, which became their residence from 1853.^[2] Parts of their Sandwell estate were subsequently sold for housing and in 1947 West Bromwich council bought 1,367 acres from William Legge, 7th Earl of Dartmouth to preserve an substantial area of open country for the use of townspeople.

The Present Site

Today, the site is within Sandwell Valley Country Park, and within the Priory Woods Local Nature Reserve, in modern West Bromwich, and is managed by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, named after the priory and park. Very little remains of the priory, although its ground-plan has been marked out. There are some low level walls of the structure and the remains of an open stone grave that resides in the eastern transept. It is a scheduled ancient monument.^[10]

References

External links

• Priory Woods Sandwell MBC page on Local Nature Reserve, with contact and access information.