Merton Priory was an English Augustinian priory founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under King Henry I (1100–1135). It was situated within the manor of Merton in the

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

of Surrey, in what is today the Colliers Wood area in the London Borough of Merton.

Buildings and holdings

The priory buildings were situated within the Diocese of Winchester (now in the Diocese of Southwark) and at the point where the River Wandle was crossed by Stane Street (the Roman road to

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

), about outside the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. It held cultivated land and pastures there and at other places in Surrey and held manors and other lands elsewhere, as well as the patronage of churches, in England. Merton canons are the canons in Canons' Teign, Devon.

History

By 1117 the foundation had been colonised by

Canons Regular 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, ...

from the Augustinian priory at

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

and re-sited in Merton, close to the Wandle.'Houses of Austin canons: Priory of St Mary of Merton
A History of the County of Surrey: Volume 2, ed. H E Malden (London, 1967), pp. 94–102 Accessed 9 April 2015. The priory became an important centre of learning and diplomacy.

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

briefly studied there around 1130, and later was wont to wear the habit of a Merton canon – as was a successor of his, Hubert Walter. It is thought that Walter de Merton studied there in the 1230s; he established a house for Merton scholars in Old Malden, and this eventually was moved to Oxford, becoming Merton College. Edmund of Abingdon wrote some of his Oxford lectures in the peace of the Priory. In 1205, King John sent a canon of Merton as an ambassador to Normandy; Prince Louis of France did penance there after a series of peace conferences culminating in the Treaty of Lambeth in 1217. In 1236 King Henry III held a

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at the Priory at which the Statute of Merton was passed allowing, amongst other matters,

lords of the manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

to enclose

common land Common land is collective land (sometimes only open to those whose nation governs the land) in which all persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel. A person ...

provided that sufficient pasture remained for their tenants. This was the first recorded

statute A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

of the first recorded English parliament. On 1 November 1437, shortly before his 16th birthday, Henry VI had a crowning ceremony at Merton Priory, although the exact nature of this is unclear.

Destruction

The Priory was demolished in 1538, following King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries, having been valued in the ''

Valor Ecclesiasticus The ''Valor Ecclesiasticus'' (Latin: "church valuation") was a survey of the finances of the church in England, Wales and English controlled parts of Ireland made in 1535 on the orders of Henry VIII. It was colloquially called the Kings books, ...

'' of 1535 at a relatively high sum of £960 16 shillings 6 pence. John Bowles alias John Ramsey surrendered the monastery of 14 canons on 16 April 1538. Much of the masonry was reused at the king's Nonsuch Palace. The site of the Priory is now occupied by

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

supermarket (Merton branch). Remains of the

Chapter House A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

are now a museum under Merantun Way, between Sainsbury's and Merton Abbey Mills.

Priors

Robert Bayle (c. 1115–50)
Robert (de Tew?) (1150–67)
William 1167–77)
Stephen, 1177–8)
Robert (1178–1186)
Richard (1190–8)
Walter (1198–1218)
Thomas de Wllst (1218–22)
Giles de Bourne (1222–1231)
Henry de Basing (1231–8)
Robert de Hegham (1238–49)
Eustachius (1249–52)
Gilbert de Asshe (1252–92)
Nicholas Tregony (1292–6)
Edmund de Herierd (1296–1305)
Geoffrey de Alkemondbury (1305–7)
William de Brokesburn (1307–1334)
Thomas de Kent (1334)
John de Lytlynton (1339–1345)
William de Friston (1345–61)
Geoffrey de Chaddesley (1361–8)
Robert de Wyndesore (1368–1403)
Michael Kympton (1403–13)
John Romeney (1413–32)
Thomas Shirfeld (1432–1439)
William Kent (1439–1442)
John Kingston (1442–1485)
John Gisbourne (1485–1502)
William Sayling (1502–20)
John Lacy (1520–30)
John Ramsey (1530–8)

References

External links

The Heritage TrailMerton Priory TrustExcavation of RuinsBBC video of the siteMerton Priory – History Unearthed
{{Monasteries in Surrey Religion in the London Borough of Merton Monasteries in London Monasteries in Surrey 1538 disestablishments in England History of the London Borough of Merton Christian monasteries established in the 1110s 1114 establishments in England Monasteries dissolved under the English Reformation Museums in the London Borough of Merton Augustinian monasteries in England