Spalding Priory (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Spaldyng

In the civil parish of Spalding.
In the historic county of Lincolnshire.
Modern Authority of Lincolnshire.
1974 county of Lincolnshire.
Medieval County of Lincolnshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: TF24772252
Latitude 52.78584° Longitude -0.15136°

Spalding Priory has been described as a probable Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are no visible remains.

Description

Benedictine cell founded in 1052 as a dependency of the Benedictine Abbey of Crowland. After 1071 one monk only remained, and the house was refounded in 1074 as a cell of St. Nicholas's Abbey, Angers. The monks secured their independence from Angers in 1397, and in 1540 the house was surrendered. The conventual church was apparently on the West side of the present Bridge Street a little to the North of High Bridge. (PastScape)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1333 March 2 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Comments

Granted licence to crenellate in 1333. This licence was part of a series of investigations into the abbey's alien status during the active periods of the 100 years war. They also had intermittent disputes with the town and a long standing dispute with Crowland Abbey, although this was resolved in 1332. The prior and monks may have felt under attack from several sides but no fortification they could build would protect them from royal power and this licence must have had much more to do with diplomatic agreements between the house, its patron Hugh de Lacy and the Crown. Surviving remains of the priory are scant and nothing can be securely dated to a building associated with this licence. The history given in the VCH does not mention either the licence of any building work from around this date.

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 352420.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 22355.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Osborne, Mike, 2010, Defending Lincolnshire: A Military History from Conquest to Cold War (The History Press) p. 57, 62
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longman) p77, 483
  Page, Wm (ed), 1906, VCH Lincolnshire Vol. 2 p. 118-24 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 410 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Coulson, C., 1982, 'Hierarchism in Conventual Crenellation: An Essay in the Sociology and Metaphysics of Medieval Fortification' Medieval Archaeology Vol. 26 p. 69-100 see online copy
  1974, East Midland Archaeological Bulletin Vol. 10 p. 38
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1893, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1330-34) Vol. 2 p. 411 online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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