Canons Ashby Priory was an

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of mon ...

Canons Ashby Canons Ashby is a small village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England. The population of the village is included in the civil parish of Preston Capes. Its most notable building is Canons Ashby House, a National Trust property. Th ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, England. Canons Ashby Priory - Stained Glass

History

The Priory was founded by Stephen la Leye on a site to the south of the present church between 1147 and 1151 in the reign of Henry II. In 1253 the

Augustinians Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...

were granted a licence to dig the Norwell, which still exists north of the present church, to supply water to the priory. In 1452, John Nantewych is named as the prior of Canons Assheby. Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; held at the National Archives; plaintiff in the 4th entry, in a plea of debt: http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT3/H6/CP40no764/bCP40no764dorses/IMG_1614.htm In 1537 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries

the Crown The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...

granted the priory and its estates to Sir

Francis Bryan Sir Francis Bryan (about 1490 – 2 February 1550) was an English courtier and diplomat during the reign of Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII. He was Chief Gentleman of the Privy chamber and Lord Justices (Ireland), Lord Justice of Ireland. Unli ...

, a close ally of

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

. Bryan held the estate for only about a year before selling it in 1538 to Sir John Cope, a wealthy Banbury lawyer. Sir John's daughter Elizabeth inherited what is thought to have been the priory farmhouse rong – Wilkyns farm was part of John Dryden's inheritance. Copes Ashbie – across the road – was inherited by Elizabeth's brother, who died early leaving his sons as Wards of the Dryden family. In 1551 she married John Dryden, who extended the building to form the earliest parts of

Canons Ashby House Canons Ashby House is a Grade I listed Elizabethan manor house located in the village of Canons Ashby, about south of the town of Daventry in the county of Northamptonshire, England. It has been owned by the National Trust since 1981 when the h ...

. Part of the building survives: the

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ca ...

St Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

dates from about 1250 and this, together with

, is now owned by the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. Its power and size can be judged by its outlying buildings which cover a large area of the surrounding countryside. The remains of the priory's ''hospitalium'' survive as the monastic building centred on the parish church of

Maidford Maidford is a civil and ecclesiastical parish in West Northamptonshire and the diocese of Peterborough situated about north-west of Towcester. The population at the 2011 census was 168. It was a centre of local Northamptonshire lace-making unti ...

, about away.

Burials

Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet (20 December 1553 – 22 May 1632) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1624. Erasmus Dryden was the son of John Dryden who built Canons Ashby House, Northamptonshire. Erasmus' mother, ...

and other members of his family *

Sir John Dryden, 2nd Baronet Sir John Dryden, 2nd Baronet (c. 1580 – c. 1658) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1640 and 1654. Dryden was the son of Sir Erasmus Dryden, 1st Baronet and his wife Frances Wilkes, daughter ...

*Sir Robert Dryden, 3rd Baronet (c. 1638–1708) *

Sir Erasmus Henry Dryden, 5th Baronet Sir Erasmus Henry Dryden, 5th Baronet (1669–1710) was an English Roman Catholic priest. Biography Erasmus Henry, born 2 May 1669, was the third son of John Dryden the poet, and his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Berkshire ...

References

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* 12th-century establishments in England 1530s disestablishments in England Augustinian monasteries in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Churches in Northamptonshire Grade II* listed buildings in Northamptonshire Monasteries in Northamptonshire Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation {{Northamptonshire-struct-stub

History

Burials

See also

References

Sources

External links