Hatfield Peverel Priory (also known as Hatfield Priory) was a Benedictine priory 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 Grea ...

, England, founded as a secular college before 1087 and converted into priory as a cell of St Albans by William Peverel ''ante'' 1100. It is in the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England and is located on the south side of the village of

Hatfield Peverel Hatfield Peverel is a village and civil parish at the centre of Essex, England. It is located 6 miles (10 km) north-east from Chelmsford, the nearest large city, which it is connected by road and rail. The parish includes the hamlets of ...

, about 5 miles north-east of

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

. At the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a timber-frame structure dominated the property. According to tradition the priory was founded by the Saxon Ingelrica, wife of Ranulph Peverel and reputed to be the mistress of William the Conqueror, to atone for her sins. The parish church, St Andrew's (

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

) is the surviving fragment of the Norman priory church nave. The property was acquired by the Wright family when John Wright, a coachmaker, first landed his family in Essex in 1764. The current house, in a park designed by Richard Woods in 1765 and built in 1769, stands on a rise of land overlooking the Chelmer valley. The property passed to Wright's son, John Wright II, who died in 1796 without a male issue. The estate then passed under entail to his nephew (i.e. his sister's son) Peter Luard, who took the name and arms of Wright as required under the will. Peter (Luard) Wright, elder brother of William Wright Luard of The Lodge, Witham (and father of Admiral

William Luard Admiral Sir William Garnham Luard (7 April 1820 – 19 May 1910) was a leading British naval figure during the latter half of the 19th century. Naval career Born in 1820, he was the eldest son of a local magistrate, William Wright Luard J.P., D ...

), occupied and expanded the property considerably. John Wright V, having suffered financial difficulties, in 1912 let the estate to Philip Charles Tennant (1867–1936), 7th son of

Robert Tennant Robert Tennant (1828 – 5 March 1900) of Chapel House in the parish of Conistone (now Conistone with Kilnsey, Burnsall), Yorkshire, England, was the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Leeds, Yorkshire, from 1874 to 1880. He served as ...

(1828-1900) of Chapel House in the parish of

Conistone Conistone is a small village in the Craven district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of Grassington, south of Kettlewell and north of Skipton beside the River Wharfe, in Upper Wharfedale. History Conistone is mentioned in the D ...

, Yorkshire, Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th Edition, ed. Pirie-Gordon, H., London, 1937, pp.2217-8, pedigree of Tennant of Chapel House

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

from 1874 to 1880. Tennant eventually purchased Hatfield Priory in 1928, following the death of the widow of John Wright V. In 1935, one year before his death, Tennant sold it to the Marianhill Mission, a Catholic lay brotherhood, which made it their European headquarters until their closure in 1972, when the property, now with derelict grounds, was purchased as a speculation by Dolph Claydon, a property developer, who quickly sold it on to Derek Marriott who used it as a school, which closed in 1979. In 2000 the property was owned by Adrian and Fiona Cowell, who have undertaken much restoration to house and grounds.

References

{{coord, 51.768942, 0.602896, type:landmark_region:GB_source:Wikimapia_scale:2000, name=Hatfield Peverel Priory, display=title Monasteries in Essex Benedictine monasteries in England 11th-century church buildings in England Christian monasteries established in the 11th century 1536 disestablishments in England Hatfield Peverel

See also

References