Leonard Stanley Priory
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Leonard Stanley Priory was a priory in
Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...
, England. Over the years following the dissolution most of the buildings of the priory complex have been destroyed.
Leonard Stanley Leonard Stanley, or Stanley St. Leonard, is a village and parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is 4 miles (5.5 km) southwest of the town of Stroud. Situated beneath the Cotswold escarpment overlooking the Severn Vale, the surrounding ...
is a small village situated about southwest of the town of
Stroud Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Sited below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the ...
in Gloucestershire. A
priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. They were created by the Catholic Church. Priories may be monastic houses of monks or nuns (such as the Benedictines, the Cistercians, or t ...
dedicated to
St Leonard Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Lenart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559) is a Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat, ...
was founded there by the Berkeley family in about 1130. This housed Austin cannons, a secular order of
Augustinians Augustinians are members of several religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written about 400 A.D. by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
. In 1146, the priory was appropriated by
Gloucester Abbey Gloucester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity and formerly St Peter's Abbey, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the River Severn. It originated with the establishme ...
and became a
Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...
cell until its dissolution in September 1538. The priory church, being of Augustinian origin, housed both the conventual and parish churches under a single roof. The church remains in use today as a parish church and is now known as St Swithun's church. On the western wall of the south transept corbel stones that supported the roof of the cloister are visible. Close to the south-west of the church, also extant is a chapel of earlier construction currently in use as a farm building. Nearby to the west is a pond once used as a fish pond by the priory. A large tithe barn built in the 14th century lies nearby.


Founding of the Priory

In 1094, Roger de Berkeley, II, succeeded his father to the honour of
Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...
. In 1116, after consultation with Theulf,
Bishop of Worcester The Bishop of Worcester is the Ordinary (officer), head of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Worcester, Diocese of Worcester in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title can be traced back to the foundation of the diocese in the ...
, Roger II gave the church of St Leonard to his clerk Sabricht and founded a house of Austin canons sometime between 1128 and 1131. By 1128, an alien Augustinian house already existed at Beckford, north Gloucestershire, which was connected to the Augustinian Abbey at Sainte-Barbe-en-Auge in Normandy.  It is probable that the clerics appointed by Sabricht to assist him at Leonard Stanley came from Beckford.  By 1130, Sabricht had become a
canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
.   The pipe rolls record that Roger II died before
Michaelmas Michaelmas ( ; also known as the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a Christian festival observed in many Western Christian liturgical calendars on 29 Se ...
1131 and that the honour of Berkeley was then managed by his nephew, William de Berkeley. Roger's son, Roger de Berkeley, III, eventually returned to claim his inheritance in 1139 or 1140. The reason for this delay in succession is likely due to Roger's absence while away at the
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
. In the interim, and in accordance with the wishes of the late Roger II, William Berkeley and Sabricht are believed to have supervised construction of the priory church and priory. From the style of the stonework, building does not appear to have been interrupted by the civil unrest of the time. While construction of the priory church was under way, the earlier chapel dedicated to St Leonard served as a place of worship for the monks and the villagers and later as a private and guest chapel for the
prior The term prior may refer to: * Prior (ecclesiastical), the head of a priory (monastery) * Prior convictions, the life history and previous convictions of a suspect or defendant in a criminal case * Prior probability, in Bayesian statistics * Prio ...
.   There are very few records about the early history of the collegiate foundation. The college was dedicated to St. Leonard and consisted of a small group of canons and the prior. Roger II had endowed the college with gifts of land which included the curacies of
Arlingham Arlingham is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Stroud District of Gloucestershire, England. The 2021 Census recorded a parish population of 533 (271 males, 262 females (129 in the age range 0-17, 289 18-64year olds an ...
,
Slimbridge Slimbridge is a village and civil parish near Dursley in Gloucestershire, England. It is best known as the home of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust's Slimbridge Reserve which was started by Sir Peter Scott. Canal and Patch Bridge The Glou ...
, and
Uley Uley is a village and civil parish in the county of Gloucestershire, England. The parish includes the hamlets of Elcombe and Shadwell and Bencombe, all to the south of the village of Uley, and the hamlet of Crawley to the north. The village ...
. In 1146, a conflict occurred between Roger de Berkeley, III, and Roger
Earl of Hereford Earl of Hereford is a title in the ancient feudal nobility of England, encompassing the region of Herefordshire, England. It was created six times. The title is an ancient one. In 1042, Godwin, Earl of Wessex severed the territory of Herefordshir ...
.  As an act of placation, Roger III granted the church and the priory, with all its rights and possessions, to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter at Gloucester. This was with the consent of Prior Sabricht and Simon, Bishop of Worcester.  This arrangement was brought about through the brokerage of
Gilbert Foliot Gilbert Foliot (Wiktionary:circa, c. 1110 – 18 February 1187) was a medieval English monk and prelate, successively Abbot of Gloucester, Bishop of Hereford and Bishop of London. Born to an ecclesiastical family, he became a monk at C ...
, abbot of Gloucester abbey. The change from an Augustinian to Benedictine house took place during a time of upheaval and civil war, known as ‘
the Anarchy The Anarchy was a civil war in England and Duchy of Normandy, Normandy between 1138 and 1153, which resulted in a widespread breakdown in law and order. The conflict was a war of succession precipitated by the accidental death of William Adel ...
’. This conflict occurred between 1135 and 1153 and was between supporters of
Empress Matilda Empress Matilda (10 September 1167), also known as Empress Maud, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter and heir of Henry I, king of England and ruler of Normandy, she went to ...
and King Stephen. Roger III had sympathies for King Stephen, and, in 1146, was captured and imprisoned by Walter de Hereford who was the brother of Roger, the Earl of Hereford, and a supporter of Empress Matilda. The
tithe A tithe (; from Old English: ''teogoþa'' "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Modern tithes are normally voluntary and paid in money, cash, cheques or v ...
s and profits of the parish were valued at £6 in 1291 and had increased to £7 6s 8d by 1535.


Dissolution

In August 1535,
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
and
Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...
spent almost the entire month in Gloucestershire. After staying at Gloucester Abbey, the king travelled to Leonard Stanley arriving there on 6 August 1535. After visiting the priory and staying overnight, he then travelled on to Berkeley the following day. It was almost exactly three years later, on 11 June 1538, that Henry sent an imperative request to the Abbot of Gloucester to recall the monks from Stanley St Leonard. The priory had remained a Benedictine cell until its dissolution in 1538. The number of monks living there throughout the period is unknown though it is likely to have been relatively small, perhaps two or three.  Three monks are recorded as being resident at the priory in 1538 when it was dissolved. At the dissolution the gross income of the priory was £126 0s 8d.  Annual payments of 5s were made to Nicholas Wikes of the Manor House, £6 to the parish curate and £13 6s 8d to the vicar of Cam. A ninety-nine-year lease for the priory estate was granted to
Sir William Kingston Sir William Kingston, Order of the Garter, KG ( – 14 September 1540) was an English courtier, soldier and administrator. He was the Constable of the Tower, Constable of the Tower of London during much of the reign of Henry VIII. Among the no ...
in September 1538.  When William died on 14 September 1540, tenure passed to his son, Anthony. In February 1549, Edward VI granted the purchase of the estate to John Sandford. After the dissolution, the curate's
stipend A stipend is a regular fixed sum of money paid for services or to defray expenses, such as for scholarship, internship, or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from an income or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work pe ...
was paid by the owners of the priory estate, and parishioners were eventually granted access to the bell tower.


Priors

There is scant information available about the priors of St Leonard Stanley and there are significant gaps in the records.  Most of the information comes from electoral records.


The Priory Site and Buildings


Original church

There is no record in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of either a church or priest at Stanley St. Leonard. It is known that a chapel existed by 1116 when it was granted by Roger II de Berkeley to Sabricht. This suggests that the chapel was constructed after the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
and is not of the Saxon period. An excavation of the site carried out in 1914 revealed that the original building was rectangular and had an
apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...
at the east end. The masonry of the chapel was of a herringbone pattern, and there was an arched doorway also in the Anglo-Saxon style. These features led Swynnerton to label the earlier chapel as Anglo-Saxon construction. Masons are known to have continued building using the older Saxon methods well into the late 11th and early 12th centuries.  This, together with the lack of a record of the church in the Domesday record, supports the current consensus that the chapel was
Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 9th and 10th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norma ...
construction.  In the 14th century, the church underwent considerable alteration and was extended.   Following dissolution it was given over for agricultural purposes and is now in use as a barn which was renovated in 2020.


Priory church

The priory church built for the
regular canons The Canons Regular of St. Augustine are Catholic priests who live in community under a rule ( and κανών, ''kanon'', in Greek) and are generally organised into Religious order (Catholic), religious orders, differing from both Secular clergy, ...
, was constructed sometime between 1130 and 1146.  The design is typical of Augustinian churches with a wide aisleless nave, central tower, and
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
s. The part of the church to the west of the tower served as the
parochial church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
with the eastern portion for the private use of the canons. A division of the parochial and conventual parts were clearly demarcated by a solid
rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...
in the western arch of the tower. Against this stood the high altar of the parish church. Several of the original Norman windows remain. The porch to the north doorway was a later addition in the 14th century. Coloured paintings dating from the 14th century were uncovered during restoration work to the church wall in about 1880. The figures depicted included a kneeling angel, the virgin Mary, and flowing patterns of scrolls and flowers.  These paintings deteriorated rapidly after being uncovered and have since been lost.


Church tower

The church tower is a substantial structure and originally had a spire. By the 14th century, the tower housed two bells, one of which was cast by Barber at a foundry in Salisbury. By the time of the dissolution, a further two bells had been added. None of the original bells now exist as in 1909 they were melted down and recast with two additional bells being added. Over the years the tower has been strengthened with extensive repairs with further buttressing being added in 1884. Opposite the north entrance to the church the old 'Fieldgate' clock mechanism known as 'Old Solomon' can be seen. This dates from before 1538.


Other buildings and structures

Nearby and south of the old chapel was the priory kitchen. This was a square building with a louvered roof which was converted to a dairy for the farm and still existed in 1787 but had been demolished by 1834. The pond to the west of the chapel was originally more extensive than it is today with much of it having been filled in over the last hundred years. This pond is believed to have been a fish pond used by the priory. The rest of the remains of the conventual buildings are no longer visible and lie below ground. Of later construction was a church house adjoining the churchyard built in about 1502. This was situated opposite the north transept and initially housed the church wardens and served as a
poorhouse A poorhouse or workhouse is a government-run (usually by a county or municipality) facility to support and provide housing for the dependent or needy. Workhouses In England, Wales and Ireland (but not in Scotland), "workhouse" has been the more ...
from 1750. This building was demolished in the early part of the 19th century.


Stonework and sculptures

There are marked similarities between the sculptures at both Old Sarum Cathedral and Leonard Stanley priory church. Common features include the bulbous shapes of the eyes and deeply punctuated pupils. This indicates that the stone carving at Leonard Stanley may have been carried out by either the Sarum Master or one of his associates. There are similarities too with the sculptures attributed to the Herefordshire school which was active between c.1130 and c.1160. These characteristics include large hands, bulbous eyes, and cap like hair which are seen in the Leonard Stanley sculptures. Several of the sculptures are of particular interest and may assist with the dating of the priory church. Set in the south wall of the chancel above the aumbry is a relief of two animals representing ‘the Temptation in the Garden of Eden’.  From the unusual iconography used, this work appears to have been influenced by the Augustinian theologian Hugh of St. Victor whose ideas spread across England around 1134. This suggests a date for the sculpture of after 1134 and before 1146. The two orders of chevrons on the doorways and the dragon-head label stops are also helpful and indicative that the completion of the building work occurred between the 1140s and 1150s. The construction time for the priory church has been estimated at 10 to 15 years based on similar buildings in England of the period.   Another unusual sculptural feature is an animal's head with deeply drilled out ears, eyes, and nostrils which is situated on the west wall of the tower. This, too, is akin to the work at Old Sarum cathedral. The head appears to be that of a bull. In Christian Iconography, the bull or ox is an animal associated with St. Luke though the reason for this sculpture and the positioning of it is not understood. Dragon head label stop, north doorway, St Swithun's Church, Leonard Stanley.jpg, Dragon head label stop, north doorway Capital, north chancel, St Swithun's Church, Leonard Stanley.jpg, Capital, north chancel Capital, south chancel, St Swithun's Church, Leonard Stanley.jpg, alt=Stonework in St Swithun's Church, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire, UK, Capital, south chancel Leonard Stanley Church (St. Swithun) (15457396029).jpg, The Temptation above aumbry, south chancel Bull Carving Church Tower.png, Bull's Head Carving


External links

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References

{{Monasteries in Gloucestershire , state=expanded 1130 establishments in England Christian monasteries established in the 1130s 1538 disestablishments in England Monasteries in Gloucestershire Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire Augustinian monasteries in England Benedictine monasteries in England