Edington Priory (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Edington.
In the historic county of Wiltshire.
Modern Authority of Wiltshire.
1974 county of Wiltshire.
Medieval County of Wiltshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: ST92605335
Latitude 51.27925° Longitude -2.10746°

Edington Priory has been described as a probable Palace, and also as a probable Fortified Ecclesiastical site.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.
This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*.

Description

Founded in 1351 by William of Edington, Bishop of Winchester, as a collegiate chantry. It was converted into a Bonhommes monastery in 1358 by the founder. It was badly damaged in Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450, when the Bishop of Winchester was dragged from the church and murdered. It surrendered in 1539, and most of the buildings were destroyed by 1579. Several features are still visible, these including fishponds, fragments surviving in the Priory, monastic gardens, the Conduit House, and the church. (PastScape)

A royal pardon and licence to crenellate was granted in 1359 Oct 9 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1004709, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number wi828
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1285064 , 1364257 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 211929.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) ST95SW452.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Wikipedia entry
Books
- Thompson, M.W., 1998, Medieval bishops' houses in England and Wales (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing) p. 167, 184
  Knowles, David and Hadcock, R. Neville, 1971, Medieval religious houses in England and Wales (Longmans) p203
  Pugh, R.B. and Crittall, Elizabeth (eds), 1956, 'House of Bonhommes: Edington' VCH Wiltshire Vol. 3 p. 320-24 online transcription
  Morewood, Caroline C., 1910, 'Introductory Chapter' in Rait, R.S. (ed), English Episcopal Palaces (Province of Canterbury) (London; Constable & Co) p. 25 online copy
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 416 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
  Brakspear, H., 1935-7, 'Edington Monastery' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 47 p. 7-19 online copy
  Jackson, S.E., 1881-2, 'Edingdon Monastery' Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine Vol. 20 p. 241-306 online copy
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), 1911, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1358-61) Vol. 11 p. 290, 297-8 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Historic England, 2016, Heritage at Risk South West Register 2016 (London: Historic England) p. 229 online copy
  Historic England, 2015, Heritage at Risk South West Register 2015 (London: Historic England) p. 230 online copy
  English Heritage, 2014, Heritage at Risk Register 2014 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 243 online copy
  English Heritage, 2013, Heritage at Risk Register 2013 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 232 online copy
  English Heritage, 2012, Heritage at Risk Register 2012 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 237 online copy
  English Heritage, 2011, Heritage at Risk Register 2011 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 216 online copy
  English Heritage, 2010, Heritage at Risk Register 2010 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 213 online copy
  English Heritage, 2009, Heritage at Risk Register 2009 South West (London: English Heritage) p. 213 online copy
  Payne, Naomi, 2003, The medieval residences of the bishops of Bath and Wells, and Salisbury (PhD Thesis University of Bristol) p. 28-9 (available via EThOS)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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