 Coat of arms of the Carmelite Order | |
  Location within Nottingham | |
| Monastery information | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Nottingham Carmelite Friary, Nottingham White Friary, Whitefriars, Nottingham |
| Order | Carmelite |
| Established | 1271 |
| Disestablished | 1539 |
| Site | |
| Location | Nottingham |
| Coordinates | 52°57′09″N1°09′07″W / 52.952631°N 1.15184°W |
| Visible remains | None |
Nottingham Whitefriars is a former Carmelite monastery located in Nottingham, England.
The friary was reputedly founded by Reginald de Grey, 1st Baron Grey de Wilton, and Sir John Shirley around 1276, but this has been found to be incorrect. The foundation of the friary is unlikely as, "all the foundation that was permissible for a friary of the Mendicant orders (to which the Carmelites belong) was the gift of a site". The date is also implausible as in 1272 (four years before the reputed date) the friary was given 10 oaks to repair their church by King Henry III. [1]
The friary was in fact founded sometime before 1271. [2] The land the priory was built on may have, however, been gifted by Reginald de Grey. The Royal Confirmation Charter given by King Edward II in 1319 records the donation of two plots of land by de Grey. The two plots were adjacent: one "in the French borough of Nottingham and the other in St. James's Lane". The friary is thought to have been held in the townspeople's affections as the friary site was extended with numerous donations of land and tenements adjacent to it. These donations were made by: Henry and Agnes Curtyse, William and Claricia de Chesterfield (and their sons and daughters), William and Agnes de Crophill, William de Lonnesdale, Ralph de Lokynton, William de Mekesburgh, Thomas de Radford, Nicholas de Shelford, William de Strelley, John de Thorneton, Cecilia de Ufton, Robert de Ufton, William de Watton, John de Wymondswold, Robert le Carter, William le Chaundeler, John le Collier, Ranulph le Leper, John and Sarah le Netherd, Alice le Palmere, Henry Putrel. Their precinct was extended again in October 1319, following the donation of a 80ft by 60ft parcel of land, by Hugh de Bingham. [1]
Edward II was very fond of the friary. In his Royal Confirmation Charter, he granted the friars freedom from the 5s. 6d. rent they owed to the crown, "on account of the special affection that we have and bear to the said prior and brethren." In 1316, whilst visiting Clipston, Nottinghamshire, King Edward had given the friary the Chapel of Saint James, which had formerly belonged to Lenton Priory, and which was adjacent to their friary. [1]
In October 1393, after killing his wife Alice, Henry de Whitley sought sanctuary within the friary. As long he stayed within the church, he could not be arrested for his crimes; his property (valued at 11s. 2½d) was, however, seized by the Nottingham town authorities. [1]
The friary was home to two notable friars during the 14th century. Philip Baston of Nottingham (d.1320) "studied Philosophy and Divinity at Oxford and became a famous poet and orator". John Clipston of Nottingham (d. 1378) was a "Doctor and Professor of Divinity at Cambridge". He was reputed for his teachings and writings, and was buried within the friary at Nottingham. [1] [3]
The friary was visited by King Henry VIII in August 1511. "He made an offering at the Rood of the White Friars". [1]
In 1532 the prior, Richard Sherwood, killed one of his friars, William Bacon, during a fight which broke out after they had been drinking. Sherwood hit Bacon on 21 February 1532, and Bacon died the following day. Sherwood was, however, pardoned for the killing by King Henry VIII, on 10 May 1532. [1]
The friary was dissolved as part of Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. [2] It was surrendered by Prior Roger Cappe on 5 February 1539. The friary was, at the time, home to six friars: William Cooke, William Frost, John Roberts, William Smithson, William Thorpe, Robert Wilson. [1]
The friary site was granted, in 1541, to James Sturley of Nottingham. [1]
Nothing remains of the former friary. It stood near to the south-west corner of Old Market Square; the priory precinct occupying the area between Friar Lane and St James Street. The area has been heavily developed since the dissolution and the site has been "almost solidly built over". [2] It is remembered locally in the street name: "Friar Lane". [Notes 1]
In 1923, during work to widen Friar Lane, part of the former friary was uncovered in the south-west corner of Old Market Square. [2] Most of the priory remains (around two-thirds) lay on the land which had been acquired by the Corporation of Nottingham for the street widening. This portion was not excavated or recorded, as the new road was laid over the top almost immediately. The land which contained the eastern portion of the ruins was to be used for construction. This allowed time for the few remains to be documented while the new foundations were dug. [4]
Adjacent to Friars Row, the remains were of a rectangular building of unknown function, with walls averaging 2 ft 8 in (0.81 m) thick. Aligned east-west, the building had encaustic tile floors. [2] Also found was a 2 ft (0.61 m) thick section of the former precinct wall, and several skeletons. [4]
Lenton Priory was a Cluniac monastic house in Nottinghamshire, founded by William Peverel circa 1102-8. The priory was granted a large endowment of property in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire by its founder, which became the cause of violent disagreement following its seizure by the crown and its reassignment to Lichfield Cathedral. The priory was home mostly to French monks until the late 14th century when the priory was freed from the control of its foreign mother-house. From the 13th-century the priory struggled financially and was noted for "its poverty and indebtedness". The priory was dissolved as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Ipswich Whitefriars was the medieval religious house of Carmelite friars which formerly stood near the centre of the town of Ipswich, the county town of Suffolk, UK. It was the last of the three principal friaries to be founded in Ipswich, the first being the Ipswich Greyfriars (Franciscans), under Tibetot family patronage before 1236, and the second the Ipswich Blackfriars (Dominicans) founded by King Henry III in 1263. The house of the Carmelite Order of White Friars was established in c. 1278–79. In its heyday it was the home of many eminent scholars, supplied several Provincial superiors of the Order in England, and was repeatedly host to the provincial chapters of the Order.
Our Lady of Doncaster is a Marian shrine located in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The original statue in the Carmelite friary was destroyed during the English Reformation. A modern shrine was erected in St Peter-in-Chains Church, Doncaster in 1973. The feast day of Our Lady of Doncaster is 4 June.
Whitefriars was a Carmelite friary on the lower slopes of St Michael's Hill, Bristol, England. It was established in 1267; in subsequent centuries a friary church was built and extensive gardens developed. The establishment was dissolved in 1538.
Derby Black Friary, also known as Derby Dominican Priory, or Blackfriars, Derby, was a Dominican priory situated in the town of Derby, England. It was also named in different sources as a friary, monastery and convent, but was officially a priory as it was headed by a prior. The "Black" came from the colour of the mantles worn by the friars of the order.
Boston Friary refers to any one of four friaries that existed in Boston, Lincolnshire, England.
Burnham Norton Friary was a Carmelite friary near Burnham Market in Norfolk, England. It is now a ruin.
York Carmelite Friary was a friary in York, North Yorkshire, England, that was established in about 1250, moved to its permanent site in 1295 and was surrendered in 1538.
Greyfriars Nottingham was a Franciscan friary in Nottinghamshire, England. It was founded c. 1224–1230, and dissolved in 1539 as part of King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. The site of the friary is now occupied by the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.
The buildings known as Whitefriars are the surviving fragments of a Carmelite friary founded in 1342 in Coventry, England. All that remains are the eastern cloister walk, a postern gateway in Much Park Street and the foundations of the friary church. It was initially home to a friary until the dissolution of the monasteries. During the 16th century it was owned by John Hales and served as King Henry VIII School, Coventry, before the school moved to St John's Hospital, Coventry. It was home to a workhouse during the 19th century. The buildings are currently used by Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry.
In London, the Greyfriars was a Conventual Franciscan friary that existed from 1225 to 1538 on a site at the North-West of the City of London by Newgate in the parish of St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Franciscan religious house to be founded in the country. The establishment included a conventual church that was one of the largest in London; a studium or regional university; and an extensive library of logical and theological texts. It was an important intellectual centre in the early fourteenth century, rivalled only by Oxford University in status. Members of the community at that time included William of Ockham, Walter Chatton and Adam Wodeham. It flourished in the fourteenth and fifteenth century but was dissolved in 1538 at the instigation of Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Christ's Hospital was founded in the old conventual buildings, and the church was rebuilt completely by Sir Christopher Wren as Christ Church Greyfriars after the original church was almost completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. The building now standing on the site, designed by Arup Group Limited, is currently occupied by Merrill Lynch.
Whitefriars is an area in the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. Until 1540, it was the site of a Carmelite monastery, from which it gets its name.
Thelsford Priory is a site listed by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England.
Ipswich Greyfriars was a mediaeval monastic house of Friars Minor (Franciscans) founded during the 13th century in Ipswich, Suffolk. It was said conventionally to have been founded by Sir Robert Tibetot of Nettlestead, Suffolk, but the foundation is accepted to be set back before 1236. This makes it the earliest house of mendicant friars in Suffolk, and established no more than ten years after the death of St Francis himself. It was within the Cambridge Custody. It remained active until dissolved in the late 1530s.
