Stogursey Priory
Benedictine | |
Established | c. 1100 |
---|---|
Disestablished | c. 1440 |
Mother house | Lonlay-l'Abbaye, Normandy |
Dedicated to | St Andrew |
People | |
Founder(s) | William de Falaise |
Site | |
Location | Stogursey, Somerset, England |
Coordinates | 51°10′50″N 3°08′30″W / 51.18065°N 3.14162°W |
Grid reference | ST203430 |
Visible remains | Church and dovecote |
Stogursey Priory, also called Stoke Courcy Priory or The Priory of St Andrew de Stoke, was a
The founding families
Stogursey had a strategic location north-west of Bridgwater and about 4 miles west of the lower estuary of the river Parrett.[8] In late Anglo-Saxon times the place was known as Stoke, and was owned by Beorhtsige: by 1086, following the Norman Conquest, it was owned by William de Falaise, a Norman.[9] There is some question whether he, or rather a son of the same name, had recently married Geva, daughter of Serlo de Burci, and widow of Martin "de Wallis".[10]
William's and Geva's daughter, Emma de Falaise, was betrothed to
In 1090, in Normandy, Robert de Courcy and Hugh de Grandmesnil came into conflict with
Manor, castle, church and priory
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/Interior_of_St_Andrew%27s_Church%2C_Stogursey%2C_Somerset_%282879326772%29.jpg/260px-Interior_of_St_Andrew%27s_Church%2C_Stogursey%2C_Somerset_%282879326772%29.jpg)
At their marriage, William de Courcy and Emma de Falaise received the manor of Stoke, which thus acquired the name of Stoke Courcy.
The church of St Andrew, which now serves as the church of the borough of Stogursey, is at its core an edifice of distinction built around A.D. 1100. It was a cruciform structure with transepts converging at a high crossing with tower above, supported by four great columns and arches. These incorporate a series of ornately carved capitals directly comparable to examples in Normandy of the last decade of the 11th century, while also showing elements of late Anglo-Saxon style more typical of the English Romanesque. They therefore belong to, or slightly antedate, the foundation phase of c. 1100–07, made by sculptors experienced in those converging artistic idioms. There was no precise artistic connection with the sculpture workshops of Lonlay, suggesting (as may seem self-evident) that the impressive original structure was built before William de Falaise presented it to Lonlay.[6]
Its various subsequent endowments[4] and their strategic meaning were discussed by Greswell.[8] The borough itself appears to have grown up some decades later.
Foundation of Blackabbey, County Down
A famous descendant of William's and Emma's, John de Courcy, made himself virtual Prince of Ulster after conquering it in 1177. He captured the Counties of Antrim and Down, and held them until he was disgraced in 1204.
Around 1183–84, he granted to the Priory of St. Andrews in Stogursey "ten carucates of land and all its appurtenances in the Country of Lart or The Ardes", in County Down, Ireland.[14][15] Before 1204 the Benedictine Priory of St. Andrew's in the Ards was built at a location two miles north of Ballyhalbert in the Ards Peninsula. Over the years this priory came to be known as Black Abbey, the colour of the clothes worn by the monks, so distinguishing it from the Cistercian house of Grey Abbey nearby (which stands on the northeastern shores of Strangford Lough). Blackabbey was therefore initially founded as a cell of Stogursey Priory which was itself a cell of Lonlay. Hamilton distinguished the adoption of Blackabbey directly as a cell of Lonlay to the time of de Courcy's successor, Hugh de Lacy: it was, at any rate, referred to as "a certain priory or cell named 'Prioratus S. Andreae en le Arde, in Ultonia'" when, in around 1350, the Priory of St Mary of Lonlay effectively dissolved it and assigned it with all its lands to Richard FitzRalph, Archbishop of Armagh, and his successors.[14][16]
Dwindling fortunes
The priory of Stogursey dwindled over the years and was repeatedly taken into the king's hands, at one time let to one of the burgesses,
Remains
Today virtually nothing remains of the abbey, apart from the
References
- ^ a b c C. Gathercole, An Archaeological Assessment of Stogursey, Somerset Urban Archaeology Surveys (English Heritage Extensive Urban Surveys/Somerset County Council 2003), with link to full report (SW South-West Heritage Trust).
- ^ The claim for Hugh de Neville as founder, expressed in the late narrative printed by W. Dugdale, ed. J. Caley, H. Ellis and B. Bandinel, Monasticon Anglicanum Vol. 6 Part 2 (James Bohn, London 1846), pp. 1012-1013 (Google), and repeated in his Baronage, is dismissed by Bishop Tanner.
- ^ T. Tanner, 'Stoke Curcy, corruptly Stoke Gursey', in Notitia Monastica: or, An Account of all the Abbies, Priories and Houses of Friers &c., (John Tanner, London 1744), pp. 468-69, note (h) (Google).
- ^ a b c T.D. Tremlett and N. Blakiston (eds), Stogursey Charters. Charters and other Documents relating to the property of the Alien Priory of Stogursey, Somerset, Somerset Record Society LXI (1949), pp. 50-51.
- ^ 'Alien house: The priory of Stogursey', in W. Page (ed.), A History of the County of Somerset, Vol. 2 (London, 1911), pp. 169-71 (British History Online).
- ^ a b c M. Baylé, 'Les chapiteaux de Stogursey (Somerset), ancien prieuré de Lonlay-l'Abbaye', Bulletin Monumental, Vol 138 Part 4 (1980), pp. 405-16 (Persée). In French.
- ^ T.D. Tremlett and N. Blakiston (eds), Stogursey Charters. Charters and other Documents relating to the Property of the Alien Priory of Stogursey, Somerset, Somerset Record Society LXI (1949).
- ^ a b W.H.P. Greswell, 'The alien Priory of Stoke Courcy', Proceedings of the Somerset Archaeological and Natural History Society, Vol. XLIII (1897), no 2, pp. 62-83 (Society's pdf).
- ^ 'Willelm de Faleise', in K.S.B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People: A Prosopography of Persons Occurring in English Documents, 1066–1166, I. Domesday Book (Boydell Press, Ipswich 1999), p. 474 (Google).
- ^ 'Stoke Curcy', in E.H. Bates (ed.), The Particular Description of the County of Somerset, drawn up by Thomas Gerard of Trent, 1633, Somerset Record Society XV (1900), pp. 33-35, with note p. 35 (Internet Archive).
- ^ a b Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, I. Domesday Book (Boydell Press, Ipswich 1999), pp. 262-63 and p. 359 (Google).
- ^ 'Stogursey', in E. Ekwall, The Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, Fourth edition (Clarendon Press, Oxford 1960), p. 445.
- ^ 'Stoke-Courcy', in J. Collinson, The History and Antiquities of the County of Somerset, 3 vols. (C. Dilly; G.G.J. and J. Robinson, and T. Longman; and T. Payne, London 1791), I, pp. 249-59, at p. 250 (Google).
- ^ a b G.E. Hamilton `Black Abbey', Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Series 6, vol. XI (1921), pp. 166-78 (Internet Archive).
- ^ W. Dugdale, ed. J. Caley, H. Ellis and B. Bandinel, Monasticon Anglicanum Vol. 6 Part 2 (James Bohn, London 1846), p. 1123, no. I (Google).
- ^ W. Kerr, 'Black Abbey, the archbishops of Armagh and the Church of Derryaghy', Lisburn Historical Society, Vol. 7 (1989), at Society's webpage, at note 6, citing Tremlett, Dugdale and Hamilton.
- ISBN 0-7091-1158-4.
- ^ H.C. Maxwell Lyte, A History of Eton College, 1440-1884, 2nd edition (Macmillan and Co., London/New York 1889), pp. 8-9 (Google), stated that the first and most important of a series of charters issued by the king relative to the endowment of the college, sourced from the alien priories, was issued on 25 March 1441.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St. Andrew (1057404)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
- ^ Historic England. "Dovecote (1057369)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 July 2008.