Boxgrove Priory
Encyclopedia
Boxgrove
Boxgrove is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of the English county of West Sussex, about five kilometres north east of the city of Chichester. The village is just south of the A285 road which follows the line of the Roman road Stane Street.The parish has an area of...
in Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, was founded in about 1066 by Robert de Haye, who in 1105 bestowed the church of St. Mary of Boxgrove upon the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
Abbey
Abbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
of Lessay
Lessay
Lessay is a commune in the Manche department in north-western France.-History:It was originally founded as a monastery but a town grew up around it over the years. The 10th century monastery is one of the greatest examples of Romanesque architecture in Normandy...
. In about 1126 upon the marriage of Robert's daughter Cecily, to Roger St. John the number of monks living at Boxgrove was increased from the original three to six, and by 1187 there were a total of fifteen. The nineteenth monk was added to the priory in about 1230 by William de Kainesham, Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
. By 1535 the priory's possessions were worth £185 19s. 8d. gross, and £145 10s. 2½d. clear.
The ruins are a Grade I listed building.
Dissolution
The PrioryPriory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
was dissolved
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
in 1536. At the time of the dissolution there were eight priests and one novice, as well as twenty-eight servants and eight children living in the priory.
Modern history
The Priory church is still in use as the Church of St Mary and St Blaise. The Battle of Britain Pilot, Billy FiskeBilly Fiske
William Meade Lindsley "Billy" Fiske III was the 1928 and 1932 Olympic champion bobsled driver and, following Jimmy Davies, was one of the first American pilots killed in action in World War II...
is buried in the churchyard.