Chacombe Priory (or Chalcombe Priory) was a

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 ...

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 ...

canons at

Chacombe Chacombe (sometimes Chalcombe in the past) is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north-east of Banbury. It is bounded to the west by the River Cherwell, to the north by a tributary and to the south-east by the B ...

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.

Hugh of Chalcombe Hugh of Chalcombe (sometimes Hugh de Chalcombe or Hugh of Chaucombe; died after 1209) was an English nobleman and royal justice. Hugh was the heir of Matthew of Chalcombe, but the exact relationship is not known. Hugh first appears in the writte ...

, lord of the

manor Manor may refer to: Land ownership *Manorialism or "manor system", the method of land ownership (or "tenure") in parts of medieval Europe, notably England *Lord of the manor, the owner of an agreed area of land (or "manor") under manorialism *Man ...

of Chacombe, founded the priory in the reign of Henry II (1154–89). on low-lying land just west of the village close to the stream. Hugh gave the priory endowments including a

yardland The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( la, virgāta was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal ...

at South Newington. In about 1225 the priory's property included eight

tenement A tenement is a type of building shared by multiple dwellings, typically with flats or apartments on each floor and with shared entrance stairway access. They are common on the British Isles, particularly in Scotland. In the medieval Old Town, i ...

s in Banbury, seven of which it retained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. By the time of the

Hundred Rolls The Hundred Rolls are a census of England and parts of what is now Wales taken in the late thirteenth century. Often considered an attempt to produce a second Domesday Book, they are named after the hundreds by which most returns were recorded. Th ...

in 1279 the priory owned a tenement in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined with Leamington Spa and Whi ...

, where it expanded its holdings until it owned a substantial number of tenements and cottages by the time of the Dissolution. On 27 September 1535 Sir

John Tregonwell Sir John Tregonwell (died 1565) was an Cornish jurist, a principal agent of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. He served as Judge of the High Court of Admiralty from 1524 to 1536.C.S. Gilbert, ''An Historical ...

reported to

Thomas Cromwell Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...

''At Chacombe the prior is newly come, and is competently well learned in Holy Scripture. He is bringing into some order his canons, who are rude and unlearned. I am only afraid that he is too familiar and easy with them.''

When the priory was suppressed in 1536 its property included land at

Boddington, Northamptonshire Boddington is a civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England, about north-east of Banbury off the A361 road. The parish includes the villages of Upper Boddington and Lower Boddington. Upper Boddington is the larger of the two, on a hill cl ...

Rotherby Rotherby is a village and former civil parish, north east of Leicester, now in the parish of Hoby with Rotherby, in the Melton district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. In 1931 the parish had a population of 133. Features Rotherby h ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

and

Wardington Wardington is a village and civil parish in Oxfordshire, about northeast of Banbury. The village consists of two parts: Wardington and Upper Wardington. The village is on a stream that rises in Upper Wardington and flows north to join the River ...

, Oxfordshire, and a tenement at

Thorpe Mandeville Thorpe Mandeville is a village and civil parish in West Northamptonshire, England about northeast of Banbury in neighbouring Oxfordshire. The hamlet of Lower Thorpe is just north of the village. The village's name means 'Outlying farm/settlem ...

. Today the only visible remains of the priory are a small chapel apparently built in the 13th century and a set of mediaeval fishponds. However, at least three medieval stone coffin slabs, including one from the 13th century, have been found in the priory grounds. Part of the priory site is now occupied by a house, also called Chacombe Priory. The house has a large

Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...

porch and a late 17th-century staircase, and was remodelled in the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

era. The house is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Burials at the Priory

Nicholas de Segrave, 1st Baron Segrave Nicholas Segrave, 1st Baron Segrave (also Seagrave; c. 1238 – bef. 12 November 1295) was an English baronial leader. Nicholas was grandson of Stephen de Segrave. Segrave was one of the most prominent baronial leaders during the reign of King He ...

and his wife Maud *

John Segrave, 2nd Baron Segrave John Segrave, 2nd Baron Segrave ( 1256 – 1325) was an English commander in the First War of Scottish Independence. Segrave commanded the English in the battles of Roslin and Happrew. He also was involved with the execution of William Wallac ...

*Stephen de Segrave, 3rd Baron Segrave (d. 1325)

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * 12th-century establishments in England 1536 disestablishments in England Augustinian monasteries in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Monasteries in Northamptonshire {{UK-Christian-monastery-stub