Marmont Priory (also ''Welles'' or ''Mirmaud'') was a priory for Gilbertine Canons in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was established by landowner Ralph de Hauvill (keeper of two of the King's

Falcons Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Some small species of falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some that hover while hunting are called kestrels. Falcons are widely distribu ...

) as a small priory or

chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantry chapel, a b ...

of three canons who prayed for the souls of de Hauvill and his wife, Maud. Fifteen years earlier, Maud had a vision of

Gilbert of Sempringham Gilbert of Sempringham (c. 1085 – 4 February 1189) was an English Catholic who founded the Gilbertine Order. He was the only medieval Englishman to found a conventual order, mainly because the Cîteaux Abbey declined his request to assist hi ...

ascending to Heaven on the day of his death. The endowment to create the priory was authorised by King John in May 1204 on the proviso that the canons would pray daily for the soul of his mother,

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine ( or ; ; , or ; – 1 April 1204) was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As ...

, who had died in April of that year. Never a wealthy priory, it held lands in

Upwell __NOTOC__ Upwell is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. Upwell village is on the A1101 road, as is Outwell, its conjoined village at the north. The nearest towns are Wisbech to the north-west and Downham Market to the e ...

and

Walsoken Walsoken is a settlement and civil parish in Norfolk, England, which is conjoined as a suburb at the northeast of the town of Wisbech, Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire. The parish of Walsoken in the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census, had a popu ...

and used St Peter's, Upwell as its church. By its dissolution in 1538 it was a

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

Watton Priory Watton Priory was a priory of the Gilbertine Order at Watton in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The double monastery was founded in 1150 by Eustace fitz John. The present building dates mainly from the fourteenth and fifteenth ce ...

. There is no direct proof that the priory ever existed. Formerly in the

Isle of Ely The Isle of Ely () is a historic region around the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. Between 1889 and 1965, it formed an Administrative counties of England, administrative county. Etymology Its name has been said to ...

, owing to a change of the county border, the site of Marmont on the old course of the

River Nene The River Nene ( or ) flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk in Eastern England from its sources in Arbury Hill in Northamptonshire. Flowing Northeast through East England to its mouth at Lutt ...

near Upwell is now in Norfolk. The site is occupied by an 18th-century farmhouse, Priory Farm. Skeletal remains have been found at the site.

References

{{Reflist Monasteries in Cambridgeshire 1200s establishments in England Gilbertine monasteries Christian monasteries established in the 1200s 1538 disestablishments in England