Swine Priory was a priory in the village of Swine in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The site of the Cistercian nunnery is a Scheduled Monument. [1]
The nunnery was in existence from the 12th century until 1539. Little remains of the buildings but extensive earthworks and the remains of fishponds, drains and a moat are still visible. Part of the nunnery church was incorporated into the existing Church of St Mary.
The nunnery was founded in the 12th century by Robert de Verli, under Fountains Abbey, initially with 14 nuns and a prioress, and was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. [2] In 1177 a papal bull from Pope Alexander III confirmed the Cistercian rights of the house. [3] By 1181 when Henry II confirmed the house it included a master, cannons, brothers and nuns. In subsequent years the separation of men and women within the institution was criticised as not being as good as it should be. [3] In 1404 Walter Skirlaw, who was Bishop of Durham from 1388 to 1406, bequeathed £100 to the nuns of Swine. [4] There were several disputes with the nearby Meaux Abbey. [3] The nunnery was closed as part of the dissolution of the monasteries 1539. [1] When the priory surrendered on 9 September 1539 there was a prioress and 19 nuns. [4]
The Church of St Mary, which was built around 1180, was the conventual church of the Priory. [5] [6] The current building contains parts of the nunnery church which was 25 metres (82 ft) long. [7]
The remains contain earthworks which show where the previous buildings used to be. These included a four-sided cloister surrounded by a moat which was up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) deep and 5 metres (16 ft) to 10 metres (33 ft) wide and a series of drains. There were also a series of fishponds and there is evidence of ridge and furrow. [1] [7]
Arthington Priory was an English monastery which was home to a community of nuns in Arthington, West Yorkshire, founded in the mid-12th century. The priory land is occupied by a residence called "Arthington Hall", which was built around 1585, and little, if anything, remains of the priory. The site of the priory church is possibly now occupied by a farmhouse called The Nunnery. The community was the only one of nuns of the Cluniac congregation in Yorkshire and one of two in England. It was established through a grant by Peter de Arthington.
Amesbury Priory was a Benedictine monastery at Amesbury in Wiltshire, England, belonging to the Order of Fontevraud, a Benedictine reform. It was founded in 1177 to replace the earlier Amesbury Abbey, a Saxon foundation established about the year 979. The Anglo-Norman Amesbury Priory was disbanded at the Dissolution of the monasteries and ceased to exist as a monastic house in 1539.
Montacute Priory was a Cluniac priory of the Benedictine order in Montacute, Somerset, England.
St Mary Magdalen Nunnery was a priory of Augustinian canonesses in Kingsdown, Bristol, England. It was founded c. 1173 and dissolved in 1536. St Mary Magdalen is remembered in the name of Maudlin Street; the nunnery was located near to the corner of Maudlin Street and St Michael's Hill, which was later the site of the King David Inn.
King's Mead Priory was a Benedictine Priory situated west of Derby, in the area currently known as Nun's Street, or Nun's Green. It was the only Benedictine Nunnery in Derbyshire.
Nunburnholme Priory was a priory of Benedictine nuns in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded during the reign of Henry II of England by an ancestor of Robert de Merlay, lord of Morpeth. Except for its demesne, it possessed only little property in its surroundings. In 1313 the prioress claimed the monastery of Seton in Coupland as a cell of Nunburnholme. In 1521 only five nuns and the prioress lived here, and on 11 August 1536 the house was suppressed. It was valued as the poorest and smallest of the Benedictine nunneries in Yorkshire surviving until then.
Greenfield Priory was a Cistercian priory in Greenfield, near Aby, Lincolnshire, England.
Nuncotham Priory was a priory of Cistercian nuns in Brocklesby, Lincolnshire, England.
Orford Priory was a priory of Premonstratensian canonesses in Stainton le Vale, Lincolnshire, England.
Stixwould Priory was a priory in Lincolnshire, England, a Cistercian nunnery founded by Lucy, countess of Chester, in 1135. The Mappa Mundi describes it as Gilbertine, but modern authors regard it as Premonstratensian. Originally suppressed in 1536, Benedictine nuns from Stainfield were then moved in by the King. In 1537 the nunnery was refounded for Premonstratensian canonesses, before being finally suppressed in 1539.
Ellerton Priory was a priory of Cistercian nuns in Swaledale in North Yorkshire, England. Its ruins lie in the civil parish of Ellerton Abbey.
Moxby Priory is the commonly used name of the former Augustinian nunnery of S. John the Apostle in today's parish of Marton-cum-Moxby, North Yorkshire, England.
Rosedale Priory was a priory in Rosedale Abbey, North Yorkshire, England that was founded c. 1150–1199. By the time the priory was suppressed in 1535, it had one prioress and eight nuns. The religious house in Rosedale was a priory and not an abbey, despite the village being given the name Rosedale Abbey, and it is unclear why this came about.
Kirklees Priory was a Cistercian nunnery whose site is in the present-day Kirklees Park, Clifton near Brighouse, West Yorkshire, England. It was originally in the ancient ecclesiastical parish of Dewsbury. The priory dedicated to the Virgin Mary and St James was founded by Reiner le Fleming, Lord of the manor of Wath upon Dearne, in 1155 during the reign of Henry II.
Stixwould is a small village in the civil parish of Stixwould and Woodhall, in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.
Elcho Priory was a medieval Cistercian Priory in Perthshire, Scotland, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Wykeham Abbey is a Grade II* listed country house in Wykeham, North Yorkshire, England. It has been the seat of the Viscounts Downe since the early 20th century.
The Keldholme Priory election dispute occurred in Yorkshire, England, in 1308. After a series of resignations by its prioresses, the establishment was in a state of turmoil, and the Archbishop of York, William Greenfield, appointed one of the nuns to lead the house. His candidate, Emma de Ebor', was deemed unacceptable by many nuns, who undermined her from the start to the extent that she resigned three months later. The archbishop, forced to find another candidate, claimed that he was unable to do so from within the priory and appointed Joan de Pykering from nearby Rosedale Priory. It is likely that Keldholme saw de Pykering as an intruder, and it seems to have reacted against her in much the same way as to her predecessor.
Joan Harkey was the last English prioress of Ellerton Priory in Swaledale in Yorkshire.