Dodford Priory in the parish of

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about northeast of Worcester and southwest of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 29,237 in 2001 (39,644 in the wider Bromsgrove/Catshill urban area). Bromsgrove is the main town in the ...

in Worcestershire in the current village of Dodford, was a small

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 ...

monastery.

History

It was founded in 1184, probably by King Henry II, which held lands around

.''Houses of Premonstratensian canons: Abbey of Halesowen,'' A History of the County of Worcester: Volume 2 (1971), pp. 162–166. Date accessed: 27 January 2011.
/ref> In 1327 it is recorded as owning an

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, ...

of a

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a Christian liturgy of prayers for the dead, which historically was an obiit, or # a chantry chapel, a building on private land, or an area in ...

at St. Nicholas Chapel,

Elmley Lovett Elmley Lovett in Worcestershire, England is a civil parish whose residents' homes are quite loosely clustered east of its Hartlebury Trading Estate, as well as in minor neighbourhood Cutnall Green to the near south-east. The latter is a loosely ...

. It was not wealthy, with an annual revenue of £4 17s in 1291 according to tax records. By 1464 it was "so near dissolution that for a long time only one canon has remained there" so was ordered by King

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

to be merged into the

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

monastery of

Halesowen Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England. Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and from ...

Dissolution

At the 1535 valuation, revenues had increased to £7 from

demesne A demesne ( ) or domain was all the land retained and managed by a lord of the manor under the feudal system for his own use, occupation, or support. This distinguished it from land sub-enfeoffed by him to others as sub-tenants. The concept or ...

lands and £17 13s 1d from rents and woodlands. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was dissolved in 1536 or 1538. In 1538 the site of the Priory of Dodford was granted with the manor of Dodford to Sir John Dudley who sold it to Andrew Dudley, who sold his "chief mansion house or messuage at Dodford" to John Fownes in 1539. His son or grandson Thomas Fownes (d.1631) (senior) at the time of his death held the reversion of the estate after the death of Jane, widow successively of Henry Dyson and of Thomas's son Thomas Fownes (d.1620) (junior) on whom it had been settled at the time of her marriage with Thomas Fownes. Thomas Fownes (junior) died without progeny in 1620 and in 1633 livery of the manor was made to his brother John Fownes who continued to hold it as late as 1664. Thomas Fownes (f.1675) followed. No further record of the property survives.

Description of site

The site was triangular, measuring 240 by 180 metres, and a moat – or more likely, series of fishponds – is still visible and waterlogged today. Some of the remains are also visible and the listing of the site may include part of the refectory, in particular "a chamfered pointed doorway" on its south west side.National Monuments Record, English Heritage9/96 Dodford Priory listing information
/ref> The site was bought by the

Chartist Co-operative Land Society The National Land Company was founded as the Chartist Cooperative Land Company in 1845 by the chartist Feargus O'Connor to help working-class people satisfy the landholding requirement to gain a vote in county seats in Great Britain. It was w ...

in the 1840s to settle working-class families on four, three and two acre plots, where it was hoped they would be able to make a reasonable income. Around 70,000 members paid subscriptions in the hope of gaining a plot, which were allocated by the drawing of ballots.Great Dodford and the later history of the Chartist Land Scheme, P Searby, Agricultural History Review 1968 p32

References

{{Monasteries in Worcestershire , state=autocollapse Monasteries in Worcestershire