Chacombe Priory

Chacombe Priory

House on the site of Chacombe Priory
Location within Northamptonshire
Monastery information
Order	Augustinian
Established	12th century
Disestablished	1536
People
Founder(s)	Hugh de Chacombe
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade II* listed
Designated date	11 September 1953
Site
Location	Chacombe, Northamptonshire, England
Coordinates	52°05′28″N 1°17′18″W / 52.0911°N 1.2884°WCoordinates: 52°05′28″N 1°17′18″W / 52.0911°N 1.2884°W
Grid reference	SP48854388
Visible remains	core of building incorporated into country house; also chapel and medieval fishponds

Chacombe Priory (or Chalcombe Priory) was a priory of Augustinian canons at Chacombe, Northamptonshire, England.^[1]

Hugh of Chacombe, lord of the manor of Chacombe, founded the priory in the reign of Henry II (1154–89).^[1] on low-lying land just west of the village close to the stream.^[2] Hugh gave the priory endowments including a yardland at South Newington.^[3] In about 1225 the priory's property included eight tenements in Banbury, seven of which it retained until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s.^[4] By the time of the Hundred Rolls in 1279 the priory owned a tenement in Warwick, where it expanded its holdings until it owned a substantial number of tenements and cottages by the time of the Dissolution.^[5]

On 27 September 1535 Sir John Tregonwell reported to Thomas Cromwell:

At Chacombe the prior is newly come, and is competently well learned in Holy Scripture. He is bringing into some order his canons, who are rude and unlearned. I am only afraid that he is too familiar and easy with them.^[6]

When the priory was suppressed in 1536^[1] its property included land at Boddington, Northamptonshire,^[7] Rotherby, Leicestershire^[8] and Wardington, Oxfordshire,^[9] and a tenement at Thorpe Mandeville.^[10] Today the only visible remains of the priory are a small chapel apparently built in the 13th century^[11] and a set of mediaeval fishponds.^[1] However, at least three medieval stone coffin slabs, including one from the 13th century, have been found in the priory grounds.^[2]

Part of the priory site is now occupied by a house, also called Chacombe Priory. The house has a large Elizabethan porch and a late 17th century staircase, and was remodelled in the Georgian era.^[1][11] The house is a Grade II* listed building.^[1]

References

1. "Chacombe Priory". National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. 11 September 1953. Retrieved 10 November 2013.
2. RCHME 1982, pp. 26–27.
3. Crossley 1983, pp. 143–159.
4. Crossley 1972, pp. 42–49.
5. Stephens 1969, pp. 480–489.
6. Gairdner 1886, pp. 143–165.
7. Gairdner & Brodie 1898, pp. 315–331.
8. Gairdner & Brodie 1902, pp. 227–244.
9. Gairdner 1890, pp. 239–254.
10. Gairdner & Brodie 1901, pp. 272–287.
11. Pevsner & Cherry 1973, p. 146.

Sources

• Crossley, Alan (ed.); Baggs, A.P.; Colvin, Christina; Colvin, H.M.; Cooper, Janet; Day, C.J.; Selwyn, Nesta; Tomkinson, A. (1983). "South Newington". A History of the County of Oxford. Victoria County History. 11: Wootton Hundred (northern part). pp. 143–159.
• Crossley, Alan (ed.); Colvin, Christina; Cooper, Janet; Cooper, N.H.; Harvey, P.D.A.; Hollings, Marjory; Hook, Judith; Jessup, Mary; Lobel, Mary D.; Mason, J.F.A.; Trinder, B.S.; Turner, Hilary (1972). "Banbury – Manors and Other Estates". A History of the County of Oxford. Victoria County History. 10. pp. 42–49.
• Gairdner, James (1886). Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII. 9 – August–December 1535. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 143–165.
• Gairdner, James (1890). Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII. 12 Part 1 – February 1537. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 239–254.
• Gairdner, James; Brodie, R.H. (1898). Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII. 16 – 1540–1541. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 315–331.
• Gairdner, James; Brodie, R.H. (1901). Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII. 18 part 1 – January–July 1543. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 272–287.
• Gairdner, James; Brodie, R.H. (1902). Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, Henry VIII. 18 part 2 – August–December 1543. Institute of Historical Research. pp. 227–244.
• Pevsner, Nikolaus; Cherry, Bridget (1973) [1961]. Northamptonshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 146. ISBN 0-14-071022-1.
• RCHME, ed. (1982). An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire. 4, Archaeological Sites in South-West Northamptonshire. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office. pp. 26–27.
• Serjeantson, R.M.; Adkins, W.R.D., eds. (1906). "The Priory of Chalcombe". A History of the County of Northampton. Victoria County History. 2. Archibald Constable & Co. pp. 133–135.
• Stephens, W.B., ed. (1969). "The Borough of Warwick – Economic and Social History to 1545". A History of the County of Warwick. Victoria County History. 8: The City of Coventry and Borough of Warwick. pp. 480–489.