Ickleton Priory was a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
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 ...
of
nun
A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...
s at
Ickleton
Ickleton is a village and civil parish about south of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. The village is beside the River Cam, close to where a southern branch of the Icknield Way crossed the river. The eastern and southern boundaries of the ...
,
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...
, England. It was established in the middle of the 12th century
and suppressed in the
Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536.
The priory's dedicatee was Saint
Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
.
[
]
History
The earliest record of Ickleton Priory's existence is a commission issued between 1174 and 1181 by Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland ( it, Rolando), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181.
A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a con ...
.[ This was in response to the priory's claim that in about 1163 ]Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
, then Archbishop of Canterbury
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...
, had granted the nuns in income of 40 shillings
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or ...
from the parish church of nearby Fowlmere
Fowlmere is one of the southernmost villages in Cambridgeshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census was 1,206. It is very close to the Imperial War Museum Duxford, and southwest of the city of Cambridge.
History
Th ...
.[
In 1151, the manor of Ickleton was given to the ]Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford
Aubrey de Vere, 1st Earl of Oxford ( – 26 December 1194) was an English noble involved in the succession conflict between King Stephen and Empress Matilda in the mid-twelfth century.
He was the son of Aubrey de Vere, Lord Great Chamberlain ...
as a wedding gift by King Steven and Queen Maud for his marriage to Euphemia.
The priory dominated Ickleton for three and a half centuries and held the parish's principal manor, which by 1536 covered . However, the priory's total estates were not extensive and the priory was neither large nor wealthy. By 1279 the priory had the small manor of Netherhall in Arrington, which it held of Lady Clare. In 1393 the priory acquired a messuage
In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...
at nearby Duxford
Duxford is a village in Cambridgeshire, England, about south of Cambridge. It is part of the Hundred Parishes area.
History
The village formed on the banks of the River Cam, a little below its emergence from the hills of north Essex. One of t ...
under licence.
The priory held more land in Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
than Cambridgeshire. This included a manor, later called Impey Hall, at Buttsbury
Buttsbury is a village and former civil parish (once ancient parish) in the Chelmsford district of Essex, England, a contraction of Botulph's Pirie, a major saint who died in 680. It is sometimes surmised that the name refers to a tree under w ...
and Stock Harward.[ The priory's other Cambridgeshire lands were in the parishes of ]Ashdon
Ashdon, is a village and civil parish in Essex, England. It is about northeast of Saffron Walden and northwest from the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the district of Uttlesford and the parliamentary constituency of Saffron Walde ...
, Elmington, Great Chesterford
Great Chesterford is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is north from Bishop's Stortford, south from Cambridge and about northwest from the city and Essex county town of Chelmsford.
The Ickn ...
, Greshall, Littlebury
Littlebury is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district, north-west Essex, England. The village is approximately a mile and a half from the market town of Saffron Walden, south from Cambridge, the nearest city, and north-east from t ...
and Strethall.[
Parish churches were another source of monastic income. However, in 1378 the priory held only two parish churches: those at Ickleton and Arrington.][ By the 1450s the priory had been granted an income from the church at ]Shingay
Shingay is a hamlet and former civil parish, now in the parish of Shingay cum Wendy, in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England around 5 miles north west of Royston. In 1951 the parish had a population of 38. ...
, although the church itself was held by the Knights Hospitaller
The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
's Shingay Preceptory.[
By 1227 the ]prior
Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...
ess had the right to hold at Ickleton a weekly market, an annual fair[ and a ]court leet
The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts.
Etym ...
.[ From 1236 she was chartered to hold a market at Stock Harward.][
Because it was not wealthy, the priory was exempted from tax in 1256 and many subsequent occasions, including in 1402.][ About 1290 the priory was valued at £15 6s d. In 1379, when the priory was surveyed for the ]poll tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual (typically every adult), without reference to income or resources.
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments fr ...
, it was categorised among priories with an annual income between 40 and 100 marks
Marks may refer to:
Business
* Mark's, a Canadian retail chain
* Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain
* Collective trade marks, trademarks owned by an organisation for the benefit of its members
* Marks & Co, the inspiration for the novel '' ...
[ (between £26 13s 4d and £66 13s 4d).][
The poll tax survey of 1379 recorded the priory as having nine nuns.][ Records of the elections of prioresses state that there were 11 nuns in 1444 and nine in 1490.][
The priory was twice attacked during civil unrest. The first was in about 1266, after the ]Battle of Evesham
The Battle of Evesham (4 August 1265) was one of the two main battles of 13th century England's Second Barons' War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and the rebellious barons by the future King Edward I, who led the ...
in the Second Barons' War
The Second Barons' War (1264–1267) was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort against the royalist forces of King Henry III, led initially by the king himself and later by his son, the fut ...
. The second was on 16 June 1381 in the Peasants' Revolt
The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Black ...
, when rebels attacked the priory and burnt the prioress's court rolls and documents.[ Because of this, records such as the elections of earlier prioresses are missing, and there is no complete record of their names or the number of nuns in the first two centuries of the priory's history.
]
Suppression
The Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535
The Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535 ( 27 Hen 8 c 28; 1536 in modern dating), also referred to as the Act for the Dissolution of the Lesser Monasteries and as the Dissolution of Lesser Monasteries Act, was an Act of the Parliament of ...
was passed to dissolve England's lesser religious houses, the first phase of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Under the Act a ''Valor Ecclesiasticus
The ''Valor Ecclesiasticus'' (Latin: "church valuation") was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII. It was colloquially called the Kings books, a s ...
'' was made, which valued Ickleton Priory at £71 9s d.[
In 1536 the priory was suppressed and surrendered its assets to ]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 ...
.[ The last prioress, Joan Ashwell, was granted a ]pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
of £8.[
The Crown promised the priory to ]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 ...
's physician, Thomas Wendy.[ However, there was an administrative delay and Dr Wendy was given the ]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 ...
s of Royston Priory instead.[ In 1537 Ickleton Priory was granted to a John Slether, but in 1538 ]Thomas Goodrich
Sir Thomas Goodrich (also spelled Goodricke; died 10 May 1554) was an English ecclesiastic and statesman who was Bishop of Ely from 1534 until his death.
Life
He was a son of Edward Goodrich of East Kirkby, Lincolnshire and brother of Henry ...
, Bishop of Ely
The Bishop of Ely is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough), together with a section of nort ...
gave 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 ...
his see's manor at Hatfield, Hertfordshire
Hatfield is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England, in the borough of Welwyn Hatfield. It had a population of 29,616 in 2001, and 39,201 at the 2011 Census. The settlement is of Saxon origin. Hatfield House, home of the Marquess of ...
in exchange for Swaffham Prior
Swaffham Prior is a small village in East Cambridgeshire, England.
Lying 5 miles west of Newmarket, and two miles south west of Burwell, the village is often paired with its neighbour Swaffham Bulbeck, and are collectively referred to as 'Th ...
y and Ickleton Priory.[
]
Remains
The ''Victoria County History
The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...
'' states that Abbey Farm, east of Duxford Road, is on the site of the priory.[ Abbey Farmhouse is a medieval building with a 13th-century core. Its farm buildings include a late 13th or early 14th century barn, altered in the 15th century, which has eight ]bays
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...
with a queen-post
A queen post is a tension member in a truss that can span longer openings than a king post truss. A king post uses one central supporting post, whereas the queen post truss uses two. Even though it is a tension member, rather than a compression ...
roof. The barn is now 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 ...
.[
However, ]Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...
and English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses.
The charity states that i ...
state that Priory Farmhouse, a timber-framed
Timber framing (german: Holzfachwerk) and "post-and-beam" construction are traditional methods of building with heavy timbers, creating structures using squared-off and carefully fitted and joined timbers with joints secured by large wooden ...
16th-century farmhouse in Abbey Street, some distance southeast of Abbey Farm, stands on what is claimed to be the site of the priory.
Annual Fair
Ickleton market and fair were chartered under Henry III between 1222 and 1227, possibly in confirmation of an earlier charter that the priory claimed was granted by King Stephen[ (reigned 1135–41). The market was every Thursday and the annual fair was on Mary Magdalene's feast day,][ 22 July.][
The annual fair survived the priory's suppression. In the latter part of the 16th century it was still being held in the former priory's barnyard, still took place around the feast day of St Mary Magdalene, and ran for five days.][ In the 18th and early 19th century it was a one-day event on the feast day itself, trading mainly in horses and cheese.][ In 1872 the fair was owned by the farmer of Abbey Farm when the ]Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
, Henry Bruce, abolished Ickleton Fair under the Fairs Act 1871.[
]
References
Sources
*
*
*{{cite book , last1=Wright , first1=A.P.M. , last2=Rosen , first2=Adrienne B. , last3=Keeling , first3= Susan M. , last4=Meekings , first4=C.A.F. , year=1978 , chapter=Ickleton , title=A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 6 , series=Victoria County History
The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...
, pages=230–246 , url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=66726
12th-century establishments in England
1536 disestablishments in England
Benedictine nunneries in England
Christian monasteries established in the 12th century
Monasteries in Cambridgeshire