|
Notes on the History of
Prittlewell Priory
NB. These are brief notes only. A new fully illustrated guidebook to the
Priory is being prepared.
Prittlewell Priory was founded by Robert fitzSuen in the early 12th century.
The accepted date is 1110 AD.
It was common practice for noblemen in the early Middle Ages to found
monasteries and Priories, the aim being to secure salvation. It was believed
that by paying monks to say prayers for their souls the time spent in
‘purgatory,’ on the way to heaven, would be minimised.
FitzSuen owned vast estates in south east Essex.
His grandfather had been one of several French families given lands by
Edward the Confessor. FitzSuen seems to have given just part of his estates
in Prittlewell to the monks of St. Pancras, Lewes (Sussex) for the
foundation of a Priory of the order of Cluny. St. Pancras was the ‘mother’
house of Cluny in England. Cluny was in Burgundy (France), and had become a
favoured monastic foundation because on its very strict regime. There were
three Cluniac houses in Essex, Prittlewell being by far the largest. Other
Cluniac Priories in south east England include Castle Acre and Bromholm,
both in Norfolk.
The rest of his Prittlewell estates seem to have been retained by the
family, and were inherited eventually by the Earls of Oxford (the de Veres).
This area then became known as Earls Hall.
The Priory was endowed (which means supported) with the income from lands,
property and churches in many surrounding parishes. This included some
properties in the town of Prittlewell itself (along the north side of East
Street in particular), together with properties (farms) stretching down to
the shore of the Thames, adjacent to the manor of Southchurch (an area which
was known by the 15th century as South End – the south end of the lands of
the Priory).
Prittlewell Priory, as most monasteries, was largely self-sufficient. The
Priory would have comprised the conventual buildings (those serving a
religious function) including the church, the refectory (dining hall),
Priory storerooms or cellars and Prior’s chamber, and the Chapter House with
dormitory above. All of these were arranged around the roughly square
Cloister Garth, or Cloisters.
Access to these buildings, all within the inner precinct of the Priory,
would have been via a Gatehouse, which was probably situated to the west of
the Priory church, possibly underneath the present tennis courts.
In the outer precinct would have been the monastic barns (for storing the
threshed and unthreshed corn, barley, wheat and oats), the stables, cow
sheds, smithy and other workshops. There would also probably have been
guesthouses and an infirmary. There would have been fields for the growing
of crops beyond these buildings, and almost certainly a Priory garden (for
medicinal herbs, etc) and probably an orchard.
All of these would have been within the boundaries of the current park.
Prittlewell Priory had a maximum of 18 monks, but usually no more than 12.
The Priory continued to function as a religious house until 1536 when, as a
result of the Act of Suppression, the Priory, along with all the ‘lesser
monasteries’ was closed. The Priory was the richest of all the Essex
monasteries. The last Priory, Thomas Norwich was given a pension.
The lands and possessions of the Priory were taken into the King’s hands,
and then sold off. The first private owner was Thomas Audley, brother of the
Lord Chancellor. He purchased the Priory from the King for £400. In 1548
Lord Richard Rich, at one time chancellor of the Court of Augmentations,
purchased the Priory, and all of its estates, for the sum of £800. It was
probably during these years, in the second half of the 16th century, that
many of the Priory buildings that were not required for conversion into a
country house, were demolished.
Rich had accumulated vast estates over the whole of Essex, his family home
being at Lees Priory. Neither Audley nor Rich would have lived at the
Priory, although Rich did build or rebuild Rochford Hall (probably using
stone from the demolished Priory buildings). Rich also acquired Southchurch,
Leigh, Hadleigh and Rochford.
Pritlewell Priory remained in the family of
Rich, the Earls of Warwick until 1678 when the last heir died. The Priory
was then purchased by Daniel Scratton. The Scratton family owned the Priory
(and members of the family lived there) until the late 19th century, and
then again in the early years of the 20th century. The Scrattons also owned
the manor and manor house of Milton Hall, now in the centre of Southend.
Extensive changes were made to the Priory in the 17th century (possibly by
the first of the Scratton owners). A two storey porch entrance was built to
make it more fashionable. In the 18th century floors were inserted into the
vast Refectory and Prior’s Chamber to create more bedroom space. In the
early-mid 19th century the two storey brick wing was added to the south west
corner. On the ground floor of this wing were the dining room and sitting
room, with bedrooms above.
We know that by the mid 19th century (and probably long before), the grounds
had been laid out as pleasure gardens for the family. To the north of the
Priory buildings a brick walled kitchen garden had been laid out. Very
detailed descriptions of what was being grown in the kitchen gardens
survive.
In 1917 the Priory came up for sale, and was purchased by Robert Arthur
Jones (a local business man), and presented to the town for use as a museum.
It then became the town’s first dedicated public museum. After extensive
restoration and refurbishment the Priory opened as the town’s first museum
in 1922.
|
|
