Esholt Priory was a
Cistercian priory in
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
,
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 ...
which was sold after the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the present
Grade II* listed Esholt Hall now stands on the site of the priory.
Esholt Priory
The priory was built in the twelfth century when Simon Warde granted the estate to the nuns of
Syningthwaite Priory, an act that was confirmed by his son in 1172 and also in 1185. The nunnery was dedicated to St Mary and St Leonard and was suppressed in 1540 under the dissolution of the monasteries.
In 1303, the Prioress, Juliana De La Wodehall, tendered her resignation to the bishop over a scandal in which one of the nuns got pregnant. Despite this, the bishop refused to accept her resignation.
Esholt Hall
On the
Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Esholt Priory estate was given to Henry Thompson. Frances Thompson, daughter and heiress of Henry Thompson married Walter Calverley of
Calverley
Calverley is a village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, on the A657 road, about from Leeds city centre and from Bradford. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4,328. It is part of the City of Leeds wa ...
, Yorkshire, and their son was
Sir Walter Calverley, 1st Baronet who in 1706–7 constructed Esholt Hall on the site of the Nunnery in
Queen Anne style.
His son,
Sir Walter Calverley-Blackett, 2nd Bt, sold it to Robert Stansfield (1727–72) of
Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1755. It passed to his niece, Anna Maria Rookes (1762–1819) and her husband Joshua Crompton (1754–1832) whose son was the MP
William Crompton-Stansfield
William Rookes Crompton-Stansfield (3 August 17905 December 1871) of Esholt Hall, Yorkshire, and Frimley Park, Surrey, was a British landowner and Whig politician who was MP for Huddersfield, Yorkshire, from 1837 to 1853.
Background
Crompt ...
(1790–1871). After his death in 1871, the estate was inherited by his nephew General William Henry Crompton-Stansfield (1835–88).
References
Monasteries in West Yorkshire
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