Haverholme Priory was a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whi ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, England. Its remains are situated north-east from the town of

Sleaford Sleaford is a market town and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington to the south-west, Holdingham to the nor ...

and less than south-west from the village of Anwick.

Foundation

In 1137,

Alexander, Bishop of Lincoln Alexander of Lincoln (died February 1148) was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln, a member of an important administrative and ecclesiastical family. He was the nephew of Roger of Salisbury, a Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of England un ...

offered the site of Haverholme Priory to the Cistercian monks of

Fountains Abbey Fountains Abbey is one of the largest and best preserved ruined Cistercian monasteries in England. It is located approximately south-west of Ripon in North Yorkshire, near to the village of Aldfield. Founded in 1132, the abbey operated for 40 ...

. After two years of construction, the order rejected the site and instead established Louth Park Abbey. Haverholme was offered to

Gilbert of Sempringham Gilbert of Sempringham (c. 1085 – 4 February 1189) the founder of the Gilbertine Order, was the only Medieval Englishman to found a conventual order, mainly because the Abbot of Cîteaux declined his request to assist him in organising a gro ...

and his

Gilbertine The Gilbertine Order of Canons Regular was founded around 1130 by Saint Gilbert in Sempringham, Lincolnshire, where Gilbert was the parish priest. It was the only completely English religious order and came to an end in the 16th century at the ...

order who sent nuns and brothers from

Sempringham Sempringham is a hamlet in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated south from the A52 road, east from Grantham and north from Bourne. The hamlet is in the civil parish of Pointon and Sempringham, and on the wes ...

to inhabit the new buildings of what was to be a

double monastery A double monastery (also dual monastery or double house) is a monastery combining separate communities of monks and of nuns, joined in one institution to share one church and other facilities. The practice is believed to have started in the East ...

Gilbertine operation

The

s also inherited the responsibility for keeping the neighbouring fens drained, and to maintain a foot ferry to

across the

River Slea The River Slea is a tributary of the River Witham, in Lincolnshire, England. In 1872 the river was described as "a never-ending source of pure water", and was a trout river renowned throughout the East coast of England. But in the late 1960s, t ...

at Ewerby Waith. They were however summoned to account in 1316 when it fell into disrepair. They were summoned again in 1360 when Alice Everingham, daughter of John de Everingham, who was supposed to have taken vows, fled from the Priory, only to be hunted down and recaptured. She complained to the Bishop of the time that she had never taken vows and she was being held against her will, so he ordered her to be released. It is rumoured that in 1164

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 ...

hid at Haverholme during one of his arguments with the King.

Dissolution

Henry VIII dissolved the Priory in 1538 and it had various owners for the next two and a half centuries. It was inherited by the Finch-Hatton family.

George Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea George William Finch-Hatton, 10th Earl of Winchilsea, 5th Earl of Nottingham (19 May 1791 – 8 January 1858) was an English politician known for duelling with the then Prime Minister, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Early life Hatton, ...

and 5th Earl of Nottingham rebuilt it in 1830. It was used as a family home by the Finch-Hatton family for almost a century.

Demolition

Public Advertisement for the Sale of Architectural Stonework from Haverholme Priority

By the early 1920s the Finch Hatton family had fallen on hard times and the priory was up for sale. It did not attract any buyers who wanted to live there. Eventually it did sell to the demolition company RUDD of Grantham. Most of the stone structure of Haverholme was sold in 1926 by RUDD to an American woman who planned to reassemble it in America. The cargo of stonework was on a dock in Liverpool when the buyer became a victim in a train crash. Eventually the stones, never shipped to America, were used to build new docks.

Present Ruin

The present ruin is the remains of a Gothic building built around 1835 to designs by the architect

Henry Edward Kendall Henry Edward Kendall (23 March 1776 – 4 January1875) was an English architect. Kendall was a student of Thomas Leverton and possibly of John Nash. His wide-ranging styles included Greek, Italian and Tudor revival. His son, Henry Edward K ...

. This was a rebuild of an earlier house dating from 1780. The ruins are 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 ...

and designated

Ancient Monument In British law, an ancient monument is an early historical structure or monument (e.g. an archaeological site) worthy of preservation and study due to archaeological or heritage interest. The ''Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 ...

References

External links

*
Nottingham University Library, Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections
records of Haverholme Priory
A Page on Haverholme Priory
{{Authority control 1139 establishments in England Religious organizations established in the 1130s History of Lincolnshire Monasteries in Lincolnshire Gilbertine nunneries Grade II listed buildings in Lincolnshire Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Ruins in Lincolnshire North Kesteven District Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation