3. THE PRIORY OF CANWELL
The priory of monks at Canwell, in the parish of
Hints, was founded by Geva, illegitimate daughter
of Hugh I, Earl of Chester, and widow of Geoffrey
Ridel, a justice under Henry I who was drowned in
1120 in the wreck of the White Ship. (fn. 1) The exact
date of the foundation is unknown, but it can be
assigned to about 1140. The priory was a Benedictine
house dedicated to St. Giles. (fn. 2) There was a spring
near the site, and this was known in later times at
least as St. Modwen's Well. (fn. 3)
There are two early charters relating to the
foundation, both issued by Geva. In the first (fn. 4) she
announces the foundation as being for the souls of
herself, her ancestors, and her kinsmen and as
made 'by the authority of Bishop Roger of Chester
[1129-48] and by the assent of Ranulf, Earl of
Chester [1129-53]' and grants the monks the land
of 'Stichesleia', (fn. 5) a meadow called 'Litemersia', (fn. 6) the
mill of Fazeley, 5 virgates at Dunton Bassett
(Leics.), including a virgate given by Osbert, Geva's
chaplain, and a mill in Dunton Bassett called 'le
Corre'. The foundation was made with the assent of
Geva's grandsons and heirs, Geoffrey Ridel and
Ralph Bassett, and this shows that the charter was
issued after the death of her son-in-law Richard
Bassett who married her daughter Maud in 1123. (fn. 7)
Richard was still living in 1131, (fn. 8) and therefore
Geva's foundation must be dated between 1131 and
1148.
Geva's second charter (fn. 9) granted part of a grove at
Canwell and a house and lands at Drayton Bassett to
the monks and the previous grants were restated.
Furthermore she gave them the churches of Dunton Bassett and Ragdale (Leics.). The monks
were also to hold a court. This second charter
cannot have been issued before 1143 as one of the
witnesses was Richard, Abbot of Leicester (elected
1143-4).
In 1148 the Pope confirmed the monks in their
possession of all that had been granted to them by
Geva and also of a meadow in Elford granted by
Robert of Weeford and 60 acres in 'Witemore' near
'Sticeleia'. (fn. 10) Other early grants included 3 virgates
at Hill in Sutton Coldfield (Warws.) given by
Roger, Earl of Warwick (1123-53), and confirmed
by his son Earl Waleran (1184-1204); (fn. 11) land at
Langley in Sutton Coldfield and the mill at Bitterscote in Tamworth parish given by Ralph Bassett of
Drayton, the grandson of Geva who died shortly
before 1166; (fn. 12) and a virgate and meadowland
adjoining in Curdworth (Warws.) given by Cecily,
sister of Hugh of Arden about 1150. (fn. 13)
These slender resources, even with some later
additions, could not have supported a very large
establishment, and it is doubtful whether there were
ever more than a very few monks at Canwell, which
remained a poor and insignificant monastery. The
patronage was retained by the Drayton branch of
the Bassett family down to 1390, and several
confirmations were issued by successive members of
the family. After the extinction of the line of the
Bassetts of Drayton the Beauchamp family, earls of
Warwick, inherited the patronage. Finally it passed
to the Lisle family who retained it until the dissolution of the priory. (fn. 14)
Canwell evidently remained undisturbed in its
possession of the church of Dunton Bassett, which
had been appropriated to the priory by 1220. (fn. 15) On
the other hand the advowson of Ragdale was lost
in 1261 at an assize of darrein presentment where
there were three contending parties — the Prior of
Canwell, Beatrice de Coleville, and Ralph Bassett of
Drayton. After the prior had withdrawn his claim
judgment was given by the jury in favour of Ralph
Bassett, who thereupon exercised his right of
presentation. (fn. 16) The outcome of this case is somewhat
surprising in view of Geva's grant, of the patronage
exercised by the Bassett family over the priory, and
of the statement in the matriculus of Hugh de Welles,
Bishop of Lincoln (1209-35), that the Prior of
Canwell was the patron of the church of Ragdale
and that the parson paid the prior ab antiquo 3
marks and a lump of wax. (fn. 17) Over a century later the
rights of Canwell were restored when in 1389 Ralph
Bassett, the last of the Bassetts of Drayton, granted
the monks in free alms the patronage of the church
of Ragdale. (fn. 18) In 1414 the priory recovered the
advowson from Sir Ralph Shirley, Ralph Bassett's
kinsman and heir. (fn. 19) From this time the monks
retained the right of presentation until the dissolution, but they seem to have been remiss in
exercising it. In 1538 old men of Ragdale affirmed
that 'there hath been neither parson nor vicar by
the space of nine score years now last past'. (fn. 20)
Ragdale was appropriated to the priory by the 15th
century, the monks paying the Bishop of Lincoln
1 mark from the church. (fn. 21) The only other church in
which the priory had any interest was that of Ashby
Parva (Leics.), from which in the 13th century at
least the monks received 4s. annually. (fn. 22)
A substantial addition to the endowments of the
priory was made about the mid 13th century on the
death of Philippa Marmion. A hundred marks were
assigned to the monks from her estate on condition
that Ralph Bassett — who was later killed at the
Battle of Evesham in 1265 — and his heirs should
present a secular clerk to the prior and convent to
be made a monk and to celebrate divine service for
the souls of Philippa and her family. (fn. 23) The only
indication of the priory's wealth in the assessment of
1291 is the value of £9 8s. placed on its temporalities
in the deanery of Guthlaxton in the archdeaconry of
Leicester and the pension of 4s. from Ashby
Parva. (fn. 24) In 1292 William de Meynill was given
licence to alienate 4 acres of land in Hints to the
priory. (fn. 25) By will of 1389 the last Ralph Bassett of
Drayton (d. 1390) left £200 and property in Lichfield and Walsall; part of this was to be used for the
augmentation of the community by five monks — a
provision which was probably never carried out —
and 'to make a wall towards the water and a new
belfry'. (fn. 26) At an episcopal visitation in 1453 the prior
gave the annual yearly value of the lands of the
priory, including meadow and pasture, as 100s.; the
annual income, including the tithes of the appropriated churches, amounted to £21 4s. 8d. (fn. 27)
Little is known of the internal history of the
priory. At least four priors were Cluniacs. (fn. 28) In the
mid 1230s, 1313, and 1315 priors of Canwell are
found acting as papal judges delegate. (fn. 29) In 1272 a
monk of Canwell, William de Sutton, killed a man,
fled, and was outlawed; the prior was fined 1 mark
for having let him escape, and Ralph Bassett stood
surety for the prior. (fn. 30) The community consisted of
the prior and three monks in 1377. (fn. 31) In the 15th
and early 16th centuries it appears that there were
never more than two or three monks in the priory.
Often there was only one, and the death of Prior
Sadeler in 1456 left the house without any monks at
all. (fn. 32) The frequent resignations from the priorate
suggest that the resident monks took it in turn to be
prior. On resignation the prior received a pension.
For instance in 1400, when John Molton resigned
for the first time, it was arranged that he was to have
lodgings in the part of the priory lately built by
Ralph Bassett and to receive good food at the prior's
table and an annual allowance of 33s. 4d. in silver
pennies for dress and other necessaries. (fn. 33) At the
episcopal visitation of 1453 John Bredon, who while
he was prior (1443-7) had been imprisoned and then
pardoned for murder, was stated by the prior to be
the only other member of the community; he was not
resident and was in receipt of an annual pension of
£4. The vicar general ordered that the pension
should cease to be paid and that John should return
to the priory; the £4 was to be spent on immediate
repairs to the church. (fn. 34)
In the 14th and 15th centuries there were a
number of petty disputes between the local inhabitants in Hints and Drayton Bassett and the priory,
generally over the cutting down of trees and underwood. The priors were invariably the defendants. (fn. 35)
In 1517 the prior brought a case to Star Chamber,
complaining bitterly of the violence of the men of
Drayton Bassett. (fn. 36)
Canwell was one of the 21 monasteries scheduled
for dissolution in 1524 in pursuance of Cardinal
Wolsey's project for founding Cardinal College,
Oxford. (fn. 37) Only one other of these houses was poorer
than Canwell; its spiritualities were valued in
1526 at £10 and its temporalities at £15 10s. 3d. The
possessions of the priory consisted of the manor and
demesne at Canwell and, elsewhere in Staffordshire,
lands in Drayton Bassett, Fazeley, Hints, Weeford,
Packington (in Weeford), Bitterscote, Whittington,
and Elford; in Warwickshire lands in Little Sutton,
Hill, Tamworth, and Nether Whitacre; and in
Leicestershire the rectory of Dunton and lands
there and the rectory of Ragdale. At an inquest held
at Walsall in 1525 it was stated that the prior and
the only other monk at Canwell had freely resigned
the priory into the hands of Wolsey and had gone
to other monasteries. One of them was evidently the
old priest who was farming the church at Ragdale
in 1538. The property was conveyed by the king to
Wolsey in January 1526 and by Wolsey to the Dean
of Cardinal College in February. In 1530 the college
drew £14 6s. from the Canwell property. After the
fall of Wolsey Canwell's possessions reverted to the
king. The process of dissolution was completed in
1530 when Thomas Cromwell and William Burbank
spent three days at Canwell and sold goods to the
value of £8. The bells were valued at £13 6s. 8d.
The former prior was paid £1 and the other monk
6s. 8d., while the prior's father and the servants
received £2 between them and the valuers ('praysors') 3s. 4d. In 1532 much of Canwell's property
passed to St. George's Chapel, Windsor. (fn. 38) The
rectories of Dunton and Ragdale were granted to the
Oxford college in that year but were in the king's
hands in 1538. (fn. 39) The manor of Canwell was held by
John Veysey, Bishop of Exeter, at his death in 1554. (fn. 40)
A survey of Canwell manor made in 1526 (fn. 41)
described the priory church as 84 feet long and 23
feet wide, the nave and chancel being under a
single roof covered with tile. The Lady Chapel on
the north side of the chancel, 42 × 14 feet, was
ruinous, and all but one side of the cloister had
fallen down. There was a house on the west side of
the manor partly tiled and shingled and partly
thatched. It was 69 × 15 feet and contained three
parlours and three upper chambers; 'an entry like
a gallery' adjoined the house, and the timber
throughout was in a bad state. A hall recently
repaired and a ruinous kitchen were also mentioned.
At the south end of the entry was a stable, 36 × 12
feet, with three chambers. At the east end of the
hall was a ruinous building, 41 × 24 feet, with a
kiln, a bolting-house and an upper room for corn.
There was also mention of a decayed dovecote and
a ruinous barn 112 × 28 feet. In the later 18th
century the new stables of Canwell Hall were erected
on what was said to be the site of the priory, using
the remaining ruins. (fn. 42)
Priors
William, occurs 1148. (fn. 43)
Denis, occurs about 1150. (fn. 44)
Hugh, occurs about 1184. (fn. 45)
H., occurs 1209 and at some date between 1200
and 1216. (fn. 46)
Hugh, occurs 1247-8. (fn. 47)
Thomas, occurs about 1289 and in 1295. (fn. 48)
Walter, occurs 1315. (fn. 49)
Henry de Roulegh, died by April 1355. (fn. 50)
John de Kyngeston, elected 1355, occurs to 1369. (fn. 51)
John Molton, occurs 1386, resigned 1400. (fn. 52)
Robert de Atterton, appointed by the bishop with
the consent of the monks 1400. (fn. 53)
John Molton, resigned 1407. (fn. 54)
Robert de Atterton, elected and presented to the
patron 1407, occurs to 1423. (fn. 55)
Thomas, occurs 1425. (fn. 56)
Robert de Atterton, occurs 1426, resigned 1433. (fn. 57)
Henry Sadeler alias Assheburn, (fn. 58) elected 1433,
resigned 1443. (fn. 59)
John Bredon, elected 1443, resigned 1447. (fn. 60)
Henry Sadeler alias Assheburn, appointed 1447,
died 1456. (fn. 61)
John Rakkis, appointed 1456, died 1468. (fn. 62)
John Tyttewell, appointed 1468, resigned 1469 or
January 1470. (fn. 63)
Hugh Lempster, appointed 1470, resigned 1503. (fn. 64)
Robert Bentley, appointed 1503, died 1511. (fn. 65)
John Muchelney, appointed 1511, resigned by
February 1516. (fn. 66)
John Alston, appointed 1516. (fn. 67)
William Becham, occurs 1517, surrendered the
priory in 1524 or 1525. (fn. 68)
The priory seal in use in the early 15th century
depicts the Annunciation with the head and
shoulders of a praying figure below. (fn. 69) Legend,
lombardic:
AVE MARIA GRATIA PLENA