Ranton Abbey or Ranton 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 ...

in Ranton,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

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 ...

, built c.1150 by Robert fitz Noel of Ellenhall. The priory flourished in the 13th century as a subordinate house to

Haughmond Abbey Haughmond Abbey ( ) is a ruined, medieval, Augustinians, Augustinian monastery a few miles from Shrewsbury, England. It was probably founded in the early 12th century and was closely associated with the FitzAlan family, who became Earls of Arund ...

(near

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

).Ranton Abbey
/ref> Ranton was dissolved by the Act of

1536 __NOTOC__ Year 1536 ( MDXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events January–June * January – King Henry VIII of England suffers a leg injury during a jou ...

for dissolving the lesser monasteries. Only the 14th-15th century tower and part of the south wall remain, although the cloisters and other parts are known to have still been standing in 1663. Many important personages were buried in the abbey including Sir Thomas Harcourt, Knt., of Stanton Harcourt, who died 12 April 1417. The ruins of Abbey House stand adjacent. Accord to Michael Raven (2004), Ranton Abbey: :"was founded by Robert and Celestia Noel of

Ellenhall Ellenhall is a small Staffordshire village roughly 2.5 miles south of Eccleshall originally comprising part of the extensive estates of the Earl of Lichfield. The population as taken at the 2011 census was 144. The village consists of a scattered ...

about 1150 for Augustinian canons from Haughmond. In 1820 Thomas, 1st

Earl of Lichfield Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family. Hi ...

, built a large house, a hunting lodge or weekend retreat, adjacent to the abbey...all that remains of the abbey is the large imposing tower (of the 15th century) and a little of the nave wall with a

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

doorway decorated with roll moulding. The house is now in ruins as it was accidentally burned down in 1942, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when troops of

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...

's bodyguard were quartered here." According to William White in his 1851 ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire'': :"Ranton, or Ronton, is a small scattered village, five miles (8 km) W of Stafford, comprising within its parish the scattered hamlets of Extolls, Long Compton, Park Nook, and including 320 inhabitants, and about 2670 acres of land, belonging chiefly to the Earl of Lichfield, and Francis Eld, Esq, and the former is lord of the manor, which, at the time of the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...

, was held by Goderick, a Saxon nobleman, and afterwards by the Noels and Harcourts. Swynfen Jones, Esq, and a few smaller owners have estates in the parish. :About a mile W of the village is Ranton Abbey, an extra parochial liberty of 700 acres belonging to the Earl of Lichfield. The ancient abbey was founded by Robert Fitz-Noel, in the reign of Henry II, for regular canons of the order of St Augustine. Considerable remains of the abbey are still standing, including a lofty well-built tower, and the outer walls of the church. The abbey liberty contains 28 inhabitants and the Abbey House which is the seat of ED Moore, Esq."''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851''
/ref>

References

{{Monasteries in Staffordshire , state=expanded

External links

County Council page
Monasteries in Staffordshire Augustinian monasteries in England 1150s establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 12th century 1537 disestablishments in England

See also

References

External links