| Chicksands Priory | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Christianity |
| Sect | Gilbertine Order |
| Province | Bedfordshire |
| Ownership |
|
| Location | |
| Country | England |
| Geographic coordinates | 52°2′26.520″N0°21′57.845″W / 52.04070000°N 0.36606806°W |
| Architecture | |
| Founder | Rohese de Vere, Countess of Essex and Payn de Beauchamp, Baron of Bedford |
| Date established | 1152 |
Listed Building – Grade I | |
Chicksands Priory is a former monastic house at Chicksands in Bedfordshire.
The Gilbertine priory of Chicksands was founded about 1152 by Rohese, Countess of Essex, and her second husband Payn de Beauchamp, Baron of Bedford. Payn and Rohese endowed the priory at its foundation with the church of Chicksands and other Bedfordshire lands. [1] The priory was of the Gilbertine Order, a religious order formed by Gilbert of Sempringham (c. 1083–1189). It was only one of ten religious houses in England that housed both nuns and canons. [2] By 1200 it was one of the largest and wealthiest Gilbertine houses. [3] Fleeing the wrath of King Henry II after the Council of Northampton in 1164, Archbishop Thomas Becket is said to have spent a short time at Chicksands Priory on his way out of England. [4]
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century, the priory passed to the Snowe family and then in 1576 to the Osborne family, who owned it for almost 400 years. Chicksands was the residence of the famous letter-writer Dorothy Osborne between her birth in 1627 and her marriage in 1654. Elements of the original building remain, but it has been altered over the years, not least in 1740 by the architect Isaac Ware and in 1813 by James Wyatt, who designed the entrance hall, staircase and porch in the Gothic Revival style. [5] Sir George Osborne's collection of "antiquities, old glass and great paintings" are mentioned "in his home at Chicksands Priory" by Arthur Mee in his 1939 volume on Huntingdon and Bedfordshire. [6]
The Crown Commissioners bought the Chicksands Priory estate on 15 April 1936, later renting it to Gerald Bagshawe, who lived there until it was requisitioned by the Royal Navy. In 1940, after a few months of naval occupation, the RAF followed and it became known, firstly, as RAF Chicksands Priory. In 1950 the United States Air Force took over and continued on the site as a "listening post" until September 1995. Chicksands Priory is a Grade I listed building. [7] The group "Friends of Chicksands Priory" was established in 1975 and tours of the building were offered to the general public until the summer of 1996. They returned to reopen the priory, following intense restoration during 1997 and 1998, in the spring of 1999. [8]
There were reports, at the time that the USAF pulled out of the base, in the local press ("The Comet") and local radio (BBC Three Counties Radio) that some of the departing personnel were taking "souvenirs" from the old buildings, causing damage and loss. Neither the US nor the British authorities would confirm this. [9]
In 2001 the Channel 4 television programme Time Team excavated sections of the site, uncovering part of what was believed to be the Infirmary cloister and several graves, and revealing possible details of the ground plan. The programme suggested that the Nuns' cloister lay under what is today a cobbled courtyard. [10]
The gardens were restored again by a British Army team, beginning in November 2019. [11]
Burials at the priory included Rohese de Vere, Countess of Essex. [12]
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 time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Modest Gilbertine revivals have taken place in the late 20th and early 21st centuries on three continents.
Royal Air Force Chicksands or more simply RAF Chicksands, was a Royal Air Force station located 7.7 miles south east of Bedford, Bedfordshire and 11.6 miles north east of Luton, Bedfordshire. It closed in 1997 when responsibility for the camp was taken over by the British Army Intelligence Corps. Near the town of Shefford it is named after Chicksands Priory, a 12th-century Gilbertine monastery located within the perimeter of the camp.
Bedfordshire is an English ceremonial county which lies between approximately 25 miles and 55 miles north of central London.
Haverholme Priory was a monastery in Lincolnshire, England. Its remains are situated 4 miles (6 km) north-east of the town of Sleaford and less than 1 mile (1.6 km) south-west from the village of Anwick.
Gilbert of Sempringham 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 group of women who wanted to live as nuns, living with lay brothers and sisters, in 1148. He founded a double monastery of canons regular and nuns in spite of such a foundation being contrary to canonical practice.
Sempringham is a village in the civil parish of Pointon and Sempringham, in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated 2 miles (3.2 km) south from the A52 road, 12 miles (19 km) east from Grantham and 8 miles (13 km) north from Bourne. The hamlet is on the western edge of the Lincolnshire Fens, the closest village being Billingborough, 0.5 miles (0.8 km) to the north on the B1177 road. Sempringham is noted as the home of Gilbert of Sempringham, the son of the lord of the manor. Gilbert is the only English Saint to have founded a monastic order, the Gilbertines. In 1921 the parish had a population of 112. On 1 April 1931 the parish was abolished to form "Pointon and Sempringham".
Beadlow Priory was a monastic foundation established between 1140 and 1146 by Robert D'Albini for a community of Benedictine monks.
Chicksands is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Campton and Chicksands in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England. The village is on the River Flit and close to its parish village of Campton and the town of Shefford.
Robert Holgate was Bishop of Llandaff from 1537 and then Archbishop of York. He recognised Henry VIII as head of the Church of England.
Mattersey Priory is a former monastery of the Gilbertine Order, located near the village of Mattersey, Nottinghamshire, England. It is managed by English Heritage.
Elstow Abbey was a monastery for Benedictine nuns in Elstow, Bedfordshire, England. It was founded c.1075 by Judith, Countess of Huntingdon, a niece of William the Conqueror, and therefore is classed as a royal foundation.
Ministry of Defence Chicksands, or more simply MOD Chicksands, is a tri-service British Armed Forces facility in Bedfordshire, approximately 35 miles (56 km) north of London.
Rohese de Vere, Countess of Essex was a noblewoman in England in the Anglo-Norman and Angevin periods. Married twice, she and her second husband founded the Gilbertine monastery of Chicksands in Bedfordshire.
Harrold Priory was a priory in Harrold, Bedfordshire, England. It was established in 1138 and disestablished in 1536.
Walden Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Saffron Walden, Essex, England, founded by Geoffrey de Mandeville, 1st Earl of Essex, between 1136 and 1143. Originally a priory, it was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1190.
Alvingham Priory was a Gilbertine priory in St. Mary, Alvingham, Lincolnshire, England. The Priory, established between 1148 and 1154, was a "double house", where religious of both sexes lived in two separate monasteries. They did not commonly communicate with one another, and there was an internal wall dividing their priory church. The superior of every Gilbertine house was the prioress, the prior being really an official of her house.
Bridgend Priory was a monastic house in Horbling, Lincolnshire, England.
Sempringham Priory was a priory in Lincolnshire, England, located in the medieval hamlet of Sempringham, to the northwest of Pointon. Today, all that remains of the priory is a marking on the ground where the walls stood and a square, which are identifiable only in aerial photos of the vicinity. However, the parish church of St Andrew's, built around 1100 AD, is witness to the priory standing alone in a field away from the main road.
Shouldham Priory was a priory in the village of Shouldham, Norfolk, England. It was founded about 1190, and was surrendered in 1538 during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
