Arbury Priory was an Augustinian priory in the parish of

Chilvers Coton Chilvers Coton is an area of the town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire, England, around one mile south of the town centre. Chilvers Coton was historically a village and civil parish in its own right and was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as � ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The priory was founded early in the reign of Henry II (c.1154) by

Ralph de Sudley Ralph de Sudeley (1133–1192) was an English baron in Gloucestershire. He was a benefactor of the Knights Templar as well as religious establishments. He was succeeded by his son Otuel. From 1185 the family was based at Griff, Warwickshire, nea ...

and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The original endowment consisted of the churches of Chilvers Coton and Dassett, together with associated land and the rights to timber, wood for fuel, and pannage. It was later given the church of

Weston under Wetherley Weston under Wetherley, often known by locals as just Weston, is a small village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. It is on the B4453, northeast of the closest town, Royal Leamington Spa. According to the 2001 Census the village had a ...

by an unknown donor. In succeeding centuries more land was either donated or purchased. In 1235 an enquiry commissioned by the Pope discovered that the priors were living a dissolute life as part of the

Arroasian The Abbey of Arrouaise in northern France was the centre of a form of the canonical life known as the Arrouaisian Order, which was popular among the founders of canonries during the decade of the 1130s. The community began to develop when Heldema ...

order. He ordered the

Bishop of Coventry The Bishop of Coventry is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Coventry in the Province of Canterbury. In the Middle Ages, the Bishop of Coventry was a title used by the bishops known today as the Bishop of Lichfield. The present ...

to convert them to the rule of St Augustine, which he did by transferring suitable monks to Arbury from other establishments to encourage their conversion. At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536 the community consisted of a prior and six brothers, plus a number of servants. Arbury was granted to

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 1st Viscount Lisle, (22 August 1545) was an English military leader and courtier. Through his third wife, Mary Tudor, he was brother-in-law to King Henry VIII. Biography Charles Brandon was the second ...

, a favourite of the king, whose heiress sold it to Sir Edmund Anderson, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. He demolished the priory and used the materials to build

Arbury Hall Arbury Hall () is a Grade I listed country house in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England, and the ancestral home of the Newdigate family, later the Newdigate-Newdegate and Fitzroy-Newdegate families. History The hall is built on the site of the ...

References

Monasteries in Warwickshire {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub