Llanthony Secunda Priory

Last updated

Llanthony Secunda Priory Llanthony Secunda Priory in January 2019.jpg
Llanthony Secunda Priory

Llanthony Secunda Priory was a house of Augustinian canons in the parish of Hempsted, Gloucestershire, England, situated about 1/2 a mile south-west of Gloucester Castle in the City of Gloucester. It was founded in 1136 by Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, a great magnate based in the west of England and the Welsh Marches, hereditary Constable of England and Sheriff of Gloucestershire (who resided at Gloucester Castle), as a secondary house and refuge for the canons of Llanthony Priory in the Vale of Ewyas, within his Lordship of Brecknock in what is now Monmouthshire, Wales. [1] The surviving remains of the Priory were designated as Grade I listed in 1952 [2] and the wider site is a scheduled ancient monument. [3] In 2013 the Llanthony Secunda Priory Trust received funds for restoration work [4] which was completed in August 2018 when it re-opened to the public. [5]

Contents

History

Remains of Tythe Barn on North Side of Inner Court Llanthony Priory, Remains of Tythe Barn on North Side of Inner Court 11.JPG
Remains of Tythe Barn on North Side of Inner Court

In 1135 after persistent attacks from the local Welsh population, the canons of Llanthony Priory retreated to Gloucester where they founded a secondary cell, called Llanthony Secunda. [6] [7]

Llanthony Secunda was known for cheese-making; in 1502 the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Prior of Llanthony gave presents of "Lanthony Cheese" to Elizabeth of York, the wife of Henry VII. [8] In 1530 the prior of Llanthony at Gloucester sent "cheese, carp and baked lampreys" to King Henry VIII at Windsor. It was customary at the commencement of the fishing season to send the sovereign the first lamprey caught in the river. The intermittent custom of the City of Gloucester to present the sovereign at Christmas with a lamprey pie with a raised crust may have originated in the time of King Henry I, who was inordinately fond of lamprey and who frequently held his court at Gloucester during the Christmas season. [9] At the Dissolution of the Monasteries the priory and its lands near Gloucester were granted by the Crown to Arthur Porter. [10]

Humpty Dumpty

During the Siege of Gloucester a Royalist cannon, shipped in from Holland to Bristol and from there to Gloucester, was placed on the walls of Llanthony Secunda and directed at Gloucester's City Wall. It was hoped by the besieging monarch, Charles I, that this cannon would break the siege and win him control of the city. The cannon misfired and exploded on the first shot. Some believe this to be the origin of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme; but this is disputed. The true origins of Humpty Dumpty are unknown but the idea that it refers to the Royalist cannon during the Siege of Gloucester is often cited as fact. [11]

Llanthony Weir and Lock

Llanthony has given its name to a weir on the River Severn, which is the normal tidal limit on the East Channel of the river, and the disused Llanthony Lock, both built about 1870. [12] Llanthony Lock was purchased by the Herefordshire & Gloucestershire Canal Trust in 2008 [13] to restore the link between that canal and Gloucester Docks.

Burials at Llanthony Secunda Priory

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Gloucester</span> 13th-century English nobleman

Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester was a powerful English noble. He was also known as "Red" Gilbert de Clare or "The Red Earl", probably because of his hair colour or fiery temper in battle. He held the Lordship of Glamorgan which was one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Welsh Marcher Lordships as well as over 200 English manors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caldicot</span> Town in Wales

Caldicot is a market town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales. The town is located between Chepstow and the city of Newport. The site adjoins the Caldicot Levels, on the north side of the Severn Estuary. The population of the built-up area was around 11,000. It has a large school, Caldicot School, and is known for its medieval castle. The built-up area includes Portskewett. Caldicot had a population of 9,604 in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford</span> 13th-century English nobleman

Humphrey (VI) de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford and 2nd Earl of Essex, was an English nobleman known primarily for his opposition to King Edward I over the Confirmatio Cartarum. He was also an active participant in the Welsh Wars and maintained for several years a private feud with the earl of Gloucester. His father, Humphrey (V) de Bohun, fought on the side of the rebellious barons in the Barons' War. When Humphrey (V) predeceased his father, Humphrey (VI) became heir to his grandfather, Humphrey (IV). At Humphrey (IV)'s death in 1275, Humphrey (VI) inherited the earldoms of Hereford and Essex. He also inherited major possessions in the Welsh Marches from his mother, Eleanor de Braose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humphrey de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford</span> Anglo-Norman nobleman and soldier

Humphrey IV de Bohun, 2nd Earl of Hereford, 1st Earl of Essex was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and soldier who served as hereditary Constable of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne of Gloucester</span> Countess of Stafford

Anne of Gloucester, Countess of Stafford was the eldest daughter and eventually sole heiress of Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, by his wife Eleanor de Bohun, one of the two daughters and co-heiresses of Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford, 6th Earl of Essex (1341–1373) of Pleshey Castle in Essex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caldicot Castle</span> Historic house museum in Monmouthshire, Wales

Caldicot Castle is an extensive stone medieval castle in the town of Caldicot, Monmouthshire, in southeast Wales, built near the site of Harold Godwinson's former Saxon castle by the Norman earls of Hereford from about 1100. The castle became a Grade I listed building on 10 June 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford</span> 12th-century Anglo-Norman nobleman and earl

Miles FitzWalter of Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford was a great magnate based in the west of England. He was hereditary Constable of England and Sheriff of Gloucestershire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humphrey de Bohun, 6th Earl of Hereford</span>

Humphrey (VIII) de Bohun, 6th Earl of Hereford, 5th Earl of Essex of Pleshy Castle in Essex, was hereditary Constable of England. He distinguished himself as a captain in the Breton campaigns of the Hundred Years' War, playing a part in winning the Battle of Morlaix (1342) and the Battle of La Roche-Derrien (1347).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu</span> English knight, 1st Count of Eu

William Bourchier, 1st Count of Eu, was an English knight created by King Henry V 1st Count of Eu, in Normandy.

Henry FitzMiles, Baron Abergavenny was a Norman baron and a Marcher Lord in the Welsh Marches.

This article is about the particular significance of the century 1301–1400 to Wales and its people.

This article is about the particular significance of the century 1201–1300 to Wales and its people.

This article is about the particular significance of the century 1101–1200 to Wales and its people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eva Marshal</span> 13th-century English Noblewoman

Eva Marshal (1203–1246) was an Anglo-Norman noblewoman, daughter of William Marshal and Isabel de Clare, the Earl and Countess of Pembroke. She married William de Braose, a marcher lord.

Bertha of Hereford, also known as Bertha de Pitres, was the daughter of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, and a wealthy heiress, Sibyl de Neufmarché. She was the wife of William de Braose, 3rd Lord of Bramber to whom she brought many castles and Lordships, such as Brecknock, and Abergavenny.

Eleanor de Braose was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman and a wealthy co-heiress of her father, who was the powerful Marcher lord William de Braose, and of her mother, Eva Marshal, a co-heiress of the Earls of Pembroke. Her husband was Humphrey de Bohun, heir of the 2nd Earl of Hereford, by whom she had children, including Humphrey de Bohun, 3rd Earl of Hereford and Gilbert de Bohun.

Humphrey III de Bohun of Trowbridge Castle in Wiltshire and of Caldicot Castle in south-east Wales, 5th feudal baron of Trowbridge, was an Anglo-Norman nobleman and general who served King Henry II as Lord High Constable of England.

Sibyl de Neufmarché, Countess of Hereford, suo jure Lady of Brecknock, was a Cambro-Norman noblewoman, heiress to one of the most substantial fiefs in the Welsh Marches. The great-granddaughter of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, king of Wales, Sibyl was also connected to the nobility of England and Normandy. Sibyl inherited the titles and lands of her father, Bernard de Neufmarché, Lord of Brecon, after her mother, Nest ferch Osbern, had declared her brother Mahel to have been illegitimate. Most of these estates passed to Sibyl's husband, Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford, as her dowry. Their marriage had been arranged personally by King Henry I of England in the spring of 1121. Sibyl, with her extensive lands, was central to the King's plans of consolidating Anglo-Norman power in south-east Wales by the merging of her estates with those of Miles, his loyal subject on whom he relied to implement Crown policy.

Margaret of Hereford was an English noblewoman and the eldest daughter of Miles de Gloucester, 1st Earl of Hereford by his wife, the wealthy Cambro-Norman heiress Sibyl de Neufmarché. Margaret married Humphrey II de Bohun, by whom she had five children. Margaret held the office of Constable of England and as a widow, exercised lordship of Herefordshire until her own death. She was the benefactress of several religious institutions.

St Kyneburgh's Chapel was established in early times near the City of Gloucester. It was dedicated to St Kyneburgh and was transferred with all its lands to Llanthony Secunda Priory by Roger Earl of Hereford between 1143 and 1155. It was situated inside Gloucester's city wall at the south gate. It was formerly a possession of St Owen's Church, Gloucester.

References

  1. ↑ Ward, Jennifer C (1995). Women of the English nobility and gentry, 1066-1500. Manchester medieval sources series. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 107. ISBN   0-7190-4115-5 . Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Historic England. "Llanthony Priory, Remains of Range on south side of Inner Court (1271697)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  3. ↑ Historic England. "Llanthony Secunda Priory (1002091)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  4. ↑ "Llanthony Secunda Priory gets £311,400 lottery funding". BBC News - Gloucestershire. 29 November 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "You can step inside a Gloucester medieval building that's been hidden to the public for years this weekend". Gloucestershire Live. 24 August 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Wade, George Wöosung; Wade, Joseph Henry (1930). Monmouthshire. Little Guides (2nd ed.). London: Cambridge University Press. p. 101. Retrieved 30 October 2010. … during the disturbances of Stephen's reign they suffered so much from the raids of the Welshmen, that under the patronage of Milo of Gloucester, Constable of England, and in 1140 Earl of Hereford, they migrated to Gloucester where a new Llanthony was founded for them in 1136.
  7. ↑ de Bari, Gerrald (Giraldus Cambrensis) (1191–94). Originally: Itinerarium Cambriae ("Journey through Wales", 1191), Descriptio Cambriae ("Description of Wales", 1194), This edition: The itinerary through Wales, Description of Wales. Everyman's Library (5th (1935) ed.). London: J.M. Dent & Sons. p. 36. Retrieved 30 October 2010. William of Wycumb, the fourth prior of Llanthoni, succeeded to Robert de Braci, who was obliged to quit the monastery on account of the hostile molestation it received from the Welsh.
  8. ↑ Nicholas Harris Nicholas, Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York (London, 1830), pp. 14, 18, 44.
  9. ↑ William Walsh's Curiosities of Popular Customs, 1897
  10. ↑ "Gloucester - Outlying hamlets | A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 4 (pp. 382-410)". british-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  11. ↑ A. Jack, Pop Goes the Weasel: The Secret Meanings of Nursery Rhymes (London: Allen Lane, 2008).
  12. ↑ Victoria County History of Gloucestershire: Gloucester Quays and Docks
  13. ↑ Canal Restoration at Llanthony Lock Gloucester Archived 2009-09-12 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ George Roberts, Some account of Llanthony Priory, Monmouthshire, London, 1847, Appendix, pp.63 et seq

51°51′36″N2°15′25″W / 51.860°N 2.257°W / 51.860; -2.257

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.