Priory Church of St Mary and St Blaize, Bloxworth

Boxgrove Priory is a ruined

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

in the village of

Boxgrove Boxgrove is a village, ecclesiastical parish and civil parish in the Chichester District of the English county of West Sussex, about north east of the city of Chichester. The village is just south of the A285 road which follows the line of the ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

, England. It was founded in the 12th century.

History

Origins

The Priory was founded in the reign of Henry I, about 1123 by Robert de Haia (or de la Haye), Lord of Halnacre by gift of the king. A Saxon church had existed on the site before the Conquest. The Priory was founded for three

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monks, and was a dependency by the

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in Normandy. In about 1126, upon the marriage of Robert's daughter Cecily to Roger St John the number of monks living at Boxgrove was increased from the original three to six. Robert had died by 1165. By 1187 there were 15 monks. A 19th monk was added to the priory in about 1230 by William de Kainesham,

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

Chichester Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ...

. By 1535 the priory's possessions were worth £185 19s. 8d. gross, and £145 10s. 2½d. clear.

Dissolution

The

Priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

was dissolved in 1536. At the time of the dissolution there were eight priests and one novice, as well as twenty-eight servants and eight children living in the priory. After the dissolution, the Priory church became the parish church.

Modern history

The Priory church is still in use as the Church of St Mary and St Blaise. The Battle of Britain Pilot

Billy Fiske William Meade Lindsley Fiske III (4 June 1911 – 17 August 1940) was an American combat fighter pilot and Olympic bobsledder. At the 1928 and 1932 Winter Olympics, Fiske won gold as driver for the US bobsledding team, also acting as the Ame ...

is buried in the churchyard. The ruins are a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

Burials

*Thomas Poynings, 5th Baron St John

References

External links

Detailed historical record for Boxgrove Priory

English Heritage
{{Coord, 50, 51, 37.8, N, 0, 42, 39.7, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title 1060s establishments in England 1536 disestablishments in England Benedictine monasteries in England Church of England church buildings in West Sussex Grade I listed monasteries Grade I listed buildings in West Sussex Monasteries in West Sussex Ruins in West Sussex English Heritage sites in West Sussex Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation