The Priory Church of St Peter with its monastery (Dunstable Priory) was founded in 1132 by

Henry I Henry I may refer to: 876–1366 * Henry I the Fowler, King of Germany (876–936) * Henry I, Duke of Bavaria (died 955) * Henry I of Austria, Margrave of Austria (died 1018) * Henry I of France (1008–1060) * Henry I the Long, Margrave of the ...

for

Augustinian Augustinian may refer to: *Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine *Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs *Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo * Canons Regular of Sain ...

Canons in

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

, Bedfordshire, England. St Peter's today is only the nave of what remains of an originally much larger Augustinian priory church. The monastic buildings consisted of a dormitory for the monks, an infirmary, stables, workshops, bakehouse, brewhouse and buttery. There was also a hostel for pilgrims and travellers, the remains of which is known today as Priory House. Opposite the Priory was one of the royal palaces belonging to

, known as Kingsbury. The present church and Deanery form part of the

Archdeaconry of Bedford The Archdeacon of Bedford is an ecclesiastical post in the Church of England Diocese of St Albans in the Province of Canterbury. Historically the post was in the Diocese of Lincoln, then from 1837 in the Diocese of Ely, England. On 13 April 1914, ...

, located within the

Diocese of St Albans The Diocese of St Albans forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England and is part of the wider Church of England, in turn part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese is home to more than 1.6 million people and comprises the hi ...

. It became a Grade I listed building on 25 October 1951.

History

Priory Church of St Peter, in Dunstable, Bedfordshire

The Augustinian priory of Dunstable was founded by

about the year 1132, and endowed by him at the same time with the lordship of the manor and town in which it stood. Tradition says that the same king was also the founder of the town and had caused the forest to be cleared away from the point where

Watling Street Watling Street is a historic route in England that crosses the River Thames at London and which was used in Classical Antiquity, Late Antiquity, and throughout the Middle Ages. It was used by the ancient Britons and paved as one of the main ...

and the

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, wi ...

crossed each other, on account of the robbers who infested the highway. He granted to the priory all such liberties and rights in the town of Dunstable as he held in his own demesne lands. He also endowed the Priory with the quarry at Totternhoe. His charter was confirmed by Henry II; and before the reign of

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

a great many of the churches of the neighborhood had also been granted to the priory by as many as thirteen different benefactors, besides the chapel of Ruxox, in the county of Bedford, with

Cublington Cublington is a village and one of 110 civil parishes within Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about seven miles (11 km) north of Aylesbury. The village name is Anglo Saxon in origin, and means "Cubbel's estate". ...

, North Marston and half

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

, Buckinghamshire, and

Higham Ferrers Higham Ferrers is a market town and civil parish in the Nene Valley in North Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single built-up area with Rushden to the south and has an estimated popula ...

with half

Pattishall Pattishall, also known in antiquity as Pateshull, is a village and Parish in West Northamptonshire, England. The population of the civil parish (including Astcote, Dalscote and Eastcote) was 1,471 at the 2011 census. The village lies adjacent ...

, Northamptonshire. Several of these gifts were disputed before the century was out, but most of them were retained by the priory throughout its existence.Page, William; Doubleday, Herbert Arthur, eds
Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Dunstable in ''The Victoria History of the County of Bedford: Volume 1''
1904, pp. 371–377 Dunstable priory was a daughter house of

Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate The Holy Trinity Priory, also known as Christchurch Aldgate, was a priory of Austin canons ( Black Canons) founded around 1108 by the English queen Matilda of Scotland near Aldgate in London.St. Botolph's Priory in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

."The History of the Priory Church", Dunstable Parish
/ref> Bernard, the first prior of the house, was closely associated with the introduction of Austin Canons into England. His brother Norman became prior first of St. Botolph's, and then of Holy Trinity. They had traveled to Chartres and Beauvais to learn the

Rule of Saint Augustine The Rule of Saint Augustine, written about the year 400, is a brief document divided into eight chapters and serves as an outline for religious life lived in community. It is the oldest monastic rule in the Western Church. The rule, developed b ...

, with a view to introducing it into England.

13th century

At the beginning of the 13th century, in the year 1202,

Richard de Morins Richard de Morins (–1242), also known as Richard of Mores, Richard de Mores, Ricardus de Mores, and Ricardus Anglicus was an English Augustinian canon of Merton Priory, before becoming prior at Dunstable Priory in 1202. Life Nothing is known ...

, a canon of Merton, became prior of Dunstable. From 1210 he took over as Dunstable's chronicler. He was evidently a man of very varied interests and a considerable capacity for affairs. Before he had been prior a year he was dispatched on the king's business to Rome; and it was probably owing to his influence that the lordship of Houghton Regis, with other gifts, were confirmed to the priory in 1203. During his term of office, in the year 1219, he secured the right of holding a court at Dunstable for all pleas of the Crown, and of sitting beside the justices itinerant at their visits to the town: a privilege which brought him into less happy relations with the townsmen and may have helped to hasten their revolt against his authority in 1228. He also successfully established the right of his house to the Harlington church in 1223. The priory was twice visited by Henry III. during the time of Richard de Morins: once after the siege of

Bedford Castle Bedford Castle was a large medieval castle in Bedford, England. Built after 1100 by Henry I, the castle played a prominent part in both the civil war of the Anarchy and the First Barons' War. The castle was significantly extended in stone, ...

, and again in the midst of the troubles connected with the burgesses, whom he attempted to pacify, at the prior's earnest request. In spite of the losses under King John and the difficulties with the burgesses, the priory seems to have enjoyed greater prosperity at this time than at any later period of which we have a clear account. In 1213 the conventual church was dedicated by Bishop Hugh of Wells. The gift of the church of Bradbourne in the Peak, with its chapels and lands, provided maintenance for three canons, and formed a kind of cell to the priory. The death of Richard de Morins in 1242 was followed immediately by heavy losses. In 1243, 800 of the sheep belonging to the priory in the Peak district died, and a succession of bad seasons led to great scarcity. By 1255 the canons not only had no corn to sell but not enough for themselves; they had to buy all their food at great expense, for two years after this; so that the

Friars Preachers The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Ca ...

, when they arrived in 1259, were even less welcome than they would have been at any ordinary time. When Simon of Eaton became prior in 1262, he found the house 400 marks in debt, and all the wool of the year already sold. But in spite of the pressure of debt and poverty, which was not diminished during his term of office, the prior was as much interested as his predecessors had been in the course of public events. Like most of the clergy and religious of the period, he was in sympathy with

Simon de Montfort Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester ( – 4 August 1265), later sometimes referred to as Simon V de Montfort to distinguish him from his namesake relatives, was a nobleman of French origin and a member of the English peerage, who led the ...

, whom he looked upon as the champion of the Church; and in 1263, when the earl visited Dunstable, the prior went out to meet him, and admitted him to the fraternity of the house. In 1265 a council was held at Dunstable to consider the possibility of peace with the defeated barons, and the king and queen visited the house in the course of the year; but though Simon de Montfort had been there quite recently, and the sympathy of the prior with his cause could not have been altogether a secret one, no fine was imposed upon the priory on that account. In 1274 a long and expensive suit was begun between the prior and convent of Dunstable and Eudo la Zouche, who had become lord of Houghton and Eaton Bray by his marriage with Millicent de Cantelow. Eudo refused to recognize the rights of the prior (established not only by charter but by long custom) to a gallows and prison in Houghton; he released one of his men from the prison and overthrew the gallows. Under the next prior, William le Breton, the gallows was restored; but Eudo still refused to recognize the prison as the prior's right, and presently erected a gallows of his own. The dispute went on for some years, and, after the death of Eudo, was continued by his wife Millicent until the year 1289, when it was finally decided in favor of the prior. In 1286, the priory had to trim its trees and hedges along the King's Highway, pursuant to the

Statute of Winchester The Statute of Winchester of 1285 (13 Edw. I, St. 2; Law French: '), also known as the Statute of Winton, was a statute enacted by King Edward I of England that reformed the system of Watch and Ward ( watchmen) of the Assize of Arms of 1252, and r ...

to curb the activities of highwaymen. It was just at this time that the king was asking for subsidies for his Welsh war. By an accumulation of misfortune, in the same winter, the outer walls of the priory had collapsed in the wet weather, and their hayricks had been destroyed by fire; and the tithes due to the

Hospitallers The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...

from North Marston church were in such long arrears that a new arrangement had to be made to pay them off. In 1295 the house at Bradbourne was so poor that all the wool produced there had to be granted to the support of the three brethren who served the church and chapels. The later pages of the annals are a long story of poverty and struggle to get clear of debt.

Clock

The Dunstable Priory clock was one of the oldest mechanical clocks in England, built in 1283. Accounts say it was installed above the rood screen. Its fate is unknown.

14th to 16th century

Of the fourteenth century there are only a few scanty notices, the only events told at any length being those connected with the

Peasants' Revolt The Peasants' Revolt, also named Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England in 1381. The revolt had various causes, including the socio-economic and political tensions generated by the Blac ...

in 1381, when the prior, Thomas Marshall, appears by his courage and moderation to have saved his own house from serious loss, and his burghers from punishment. Henry VI visited Dunstable in 1459, but there is no record of his relations with the priory; its history during the fifteenth century is not recorded in any way. But in the sixteenth century it was again connected with an important historical event, when on 23 May 1533, in the Lady Chapel of the conventual church at Dunstable, Archbishop Cranmer together with and the bishops of Winchester,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, Bath and

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

pronounced the marriage between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon to be

null and void In law, void means of no legal effect. An action, document, or transaction which is void is of no legal effect whatsoever: an absolute nullity—the law treats it as if it had never existed or happened. The term void ''ab initio'', which means " ...

. The location arose as Catherine was then residing at nearby

Ampthill Ampthill () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population estimate of 8,100 (Mid year estimate 2017 from the ONS). It is administered bAmpthill Town Council The ward of Ampthill which also i ...

, some 12 miles to the north. In 1535 the prior, Gervase Markham, with twelve canons, signed the acknowledgement of the Royal Supremacy, and on 20 January 1540–1, he surrendered his house to the king and received a pension of £60. The smaller English religious houses had been dissolved by Act of Parliament in 1536, and the church and priory at Dunstable were closed down in January 1540. The prior and the twelve canons were granted pensions and given dispensations to serve as secular priests. The great church and the buildings of the priory were initially kept standing intact, since it was intended to create a see at Dunstable, with the priory church as its cathedral. However, the scheme for the creation of new bishoprics fell through after a few years and the beautiful church (with the exception of the parochial nave) shared the fate of the monastic buildings, being plundered of all that was valuable and left in ruin. There were only thirteen monks besides the prior at the time of the dissolution; eleven canons and two lay brothers; in the early days there were probably more, though never a very large number. Between the years 1223 and 1275 only twenty-five admissions to the novitiate are recorded, and thirteen deaths; but the entries were perhaps not always made with equal care, and the entrance of lay brothers was not noticed at all. Besides the religious there were a number of other inmates of the priory; a 'new house for the carpenters and wheelwrights within the court' was built in 1250; there was accommodation also for the chaplains of the monastery, and for boarders who had bought corrodies, as well as pensioners in the almonry. The porter of the great gate was sometimes a secular, unlike the custom of

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 ...

houses.

Visitations

There can be no doubt of the good order of the house during the time of Richard de Morins; he would scarcely have been chosen twice to visit other houses unless he had ruled his own with care and diligence. During his forty years of office canons of Dunstable were at least five times elected priors to other monasteries of the order—at Caldwell, St. Frideswide's,

Ashby Ashby may refer to: People * Ashby (surname) * Alan la Zouche, 1st Baron la Zouche of Ashby (1267–1314), governor of Rockingham Castle and steward of Rockingham Forest, England * Walter Ashby Plecker (1861–1947), American physician and publi ...

and Coldnorton. Bishop Grosseteste visited the house once in 1236, not so much to inquire into the daily life of the priory as to investigate its title to several appropriate churches; but he exacted an oath on this occasion from all the canons individually, and one of them fled to Woburn rather than submit to it. The bishop came again while Geoffrey of Barton was prior. Henry de Bilenda, the cellarer, upon whom so much depended, was incapable or untrustworthy, and in 1249 fled to the Cistercians at Merivale, rather than render an account of his stewardship. In 1274 Bishop Gravesend sent a canon of Lincoln to visit Dunstable, who left his corrections in writing; and in Advent of the same year he made a personal visitation. In November 1279

Bishop Sutton Bishop Sutton () is a village on the northern slopes of the Mendip Hills, within the affluent Chew Valley in Somerset. It lies east of Chew Valley Lake and north east of the Mendip Hills, approximately ten miles south of Bristol on the A368, ...

came and discharged his office 'strictly and without respect of persons.' The sub-prior and certain others were removed from their charge and forbidden to hold office in future, and certain 'less useful members' of the household expelled; in May of the following year, he deposed the prior, William le Breton, from all pastoral care. It seems most likely that these depositions were on account of mismanagement rather than for any personal failings; the great necessity and heavy debts of the house called for stringent measures, and William le Breton had shown himself unable to meet the difficulty. Efforts were madeto curtail expenses and get in ready money for the payment of debts. There is no sign of any other grave faults having been committed, nor of anything like luxurious living. The new prior, according to the bishop's advice, set himself to limit the expenses of the whole house and assigned a fixed income to the kitchen for the future; the deposed prior had proper maintenance assigned to him at Ruxox. The canons seem to have borne no ill-will to Bishop Sutton for his corrections and were ready on his next visit to their church (which was made not officially but only in passing) to praise him for his excellent sermon. Other visitations of his are mentioned in 1284, 1287, 1288, and 1293; the last was only to confer orders. Archbishop Peckham came in 1284, but found all well ('as the bishop had been there quite late,' the chronicler naively remarks); and Archbishop Winchelsea in 1293. The only serious charge that could be laid to the door of the canons all through the thirteenth century was their inability to keep clear of debt, and the record shows that this was often quite as much their misfortune as their fault. There are many incidental remarks of the chroniclers which serve to show that the tone of the house was thoroughly religious and that the canons were faithful in keeping their rule. It will suffice to instance, early in the century, the generous treatment of the two young canons (one only a novice), who escaped by night through a window and went to join the

Friars Minor The Order of Friars Minor (also called the Franciscans, the Franciscan Order, or the Seraphic Order; postnominal abbreviation OFM) is a mendicant Catholic religious order, founded in 1209 by Francis of Assisi. The order adheres to the teachi ...

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. They were indeed solemnly excommunicated and compelled to return; but after they had done their penance in the chapter house and had been absolved, they were allowed a year to consider the matter, and if after that time they preferred the stricter order, they were granted permission to depart; if not, they might remain at Dunstable. A good deal later than this, in 1283, the apologetic way in which the chronicler relates how the prior went out to dinner with John Durant is sufficient to show that the ordinary rules and customs of the order were not commonly broken. During the fourteenth century, there were several visitations. There is no notice of any by Bishop Dalderby; but he commissioned the prior of Dunstable in 1315 to visit the nuns of St. Giles-in-the-Wood in his name. Bishop Burghersh in 1322 wrote to order the prior and convent to take back a brother who had been on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and asserted that he did so with the permission of his superior, and a little later the prior was cited for refusing to obey this injunction. In 1359 Bishop Gynwell, passing by the priory, noticed 'certain insolences and unlawful wanderings' of the canons, and wrote to reinforce the rule that none should go beyond the precincts of the monastery without reasonable cause, nor without the permission of the prior; and ordered further that such permission should not be too frequently given. He also reminded them of the rule that none should eat or drink outside the monastery, or talk with seculars without permission. In 1379 Bishop Buckingham confirmed an important ordinance of Thomas Marshall, setting apart certain funds for the education of one of the canons at Oxford. The prior alludes to the poverty of his house, which was so great that were it not for the help of friends they would not be able to live decently and honestly, and religion would be diminished. Hitherto there had not been enough canons nor enough money to set apart one for special study; but the prior now wished to do so (partly out of the profits of a chantry established by his own family), 'seeing the advantage of learning and the necessity of preaching, the priory being a populous place where a great number of people come together.' All this certainly points to a satisfactory state of the priory under Thomas Marshall, and accords well with what we know of his character from other sources. Bishop Grey's injunctions are the only notice that we have of the internal history of the priory during the fifteenth century; they do not indicate any special laxity, and only repeat the usual orders as to silence, singing of the divine office, the unlawfulness of eating and drinking after Compline, going to Dunstable or having visitors without permission. And so again at the very end, just before the dissolution, the silence of Bishop Longland, and the king's choice of the priory for the solemn announcement of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, constitute indirect evidence in favor of the house. On the whole, the priory of Dunstable shows a very good record in the matter of discipline and order, with only a few lapses.

Endowments

The original endowment of the priory was, the lordship of the manor and town of Dunstable; to which was added under Henry II. the lordship of Houghton Regis, and under John, the king's house and gardens at Dunstable. The manors of Stoke and Catesby, and of Ballidon in the Peak, are mentioned in the annals as the property of the priory during the thirteenth century. In 1291 the tithes of St. Peter and St. Cuthbert, Bedford, Dunstable, Studham, Totternhoe, Chalgrave, Husborne Crawley, Segenhoe, Flitwick, Pulloxhill, Steppingley, Harlington, Higham Ferrers, Newbottle, Cublington, a moiety of Great Brickhill, Pattishall and Bradbourne belonged to Dunstable Priory, with pensions in other churches. The temporalities at this time were only valued at a little more than £50; the annals of the house state the total income in 1273 as £107. The knight's fees attributed to Dunstable in 1316 were half a fee in Husborne Crawley and Flitwick, and another half in Pulloxhill, with some small fractions besides; they are practically the same in 1346 and 1428. The valuation of the whole property of the priory in 1535 amounted to £344 13s. 4d., the first report of the Crown bailiff to £266 17s. 6¾d., including the manors of Studham, Wadlow, Stokehammond, Gledley, Grimscote, Catesby and Shortgrave, and the rectories of Studham, Totternhoe, Pulloxhill, Harlington, Husborne Crawley, Flitwick, Segenhoe, Bradbourne, Newbottle, Pattishall and Weedon.

Priors of Dunstable

Priors of Dunstable were: *Bernard. *Cuthbert. *Thomas, occurs 1185, resigned 1202 *Richard de Morins, elected 1202, died 1242 *Geoffrey of Barton, elected 1242, resigned 1262 *Simon of Eaton elected 1262, died 1274 *William le Breton, elected 1274, deposed 1280 *William de Wederhore, elected 1280, resigned 1302 *John of Cheddington, elected 1302, died 1341 *John of London, elected 1341, resigned 1348 *Roger of Gravenhurst, elected 1348, died 1351 *Thomas Marshall elected 1351, died 1413 *John Roxton, elected 1413, resigned 1473 *Thomas Gylys, elected 1473, resigned 1482 *Richard Charnock, elected 1482, resigned 1500 *John Wastell, elected 1500, died 1525 *Gervase Markham, elected 1525, surr. 1540

Common seal

The seal of the priory used in the fifteenth century (round and large) represents St. Peter seated, holding the keys in the left hand, and the right raised in benediction. Legend: SIGILLUM ECCLIE SC . . PET . . LE. The seal of Prior William de Wederhore (affixed to a document dated 1286) is the same as above; the counter-seal has a king and a saint (very indistinct), each standing under a crocketted canopy, the prior kneeling in prayer below. Legend: . . . . ILLUM WILLELMI PRIORIS DE. .

Architecture

Dunstable priory main portal and facade detail

St Peter's is one of the best examples of

Norman architecture The term Norman architecture is used to categorise styles of Romanesque architecture developed by the Normans in the various lands under their dominion or influence in the 11th and 12th centuries. In particular the term is traditionally used f ...

in England. It was built in the form of a cross with a great tower at the crossing and with two smaller towers at the west end. It took 70 to 80 years before the church was complete. Ten years later a storm destroyed much of the front of the church. The damaged part was rebuilt in Early English style. The west front has a huge entrance consisting of four arches (1170–90) above a later 15th-century doorway. The entrance is decorated with diaper pattern and stiff-leaf moulding providing relief for a profusion of small arches. To the south west of the church is the 15th-century gateway, a reminder of the long-vanished priory. The old west doors still show the marks of shots fired during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. Inside the church, the highlight is the intricate 14th-century screen, with five open bays. The roof is a sympathetic restoration dating from 1871 of the

Perpendicular In elementary geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at a right angle (90 degrees or π/2 radians). The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the ''perpendicular symbol'', ⟂. It ca ...

original. There are several funerary monuments and floor brasses. Among the possessions of the church is the Fayrey Pall, a 15th-century embroidered cloth.

Burials

Neil Loring Sir Neil Loring ("Loryng", "Loringe" etc., Neel ''alias'' Nigel, Latin: ''Nigellus'') (c. 1320 – 18 March 1386), KG, was a medieval English soldier and diplomat and a founding member of the Order of the Garter, established by King Edward I ...

Priory House

On the dissolution of the monasteries the Priory’s guest house became a private house from 1545. One of the earliest owners was the important local Crawley family who used part of the building as an early hospital for the mentally ill. In 1743 the original stone vaulted hall was incorporated into a much larger house with the Georgian facade. The Town Council converted the building into a Heritage and Tourist Information Centre. Priory House is a Grade II listed building."Priory House History", Dunstable Town Council
/ref>

References

Notes

* This article incorporates text from ''The Priory of Dunstable'', in ''The Victoria History of the County of Bedford: Volume 1'', 1904.