Monument record 638/1 - Daventry Priory

A small Cluniac Priory founded at Preston Capes in 1090 by Hugh of Leicester and moved to Daventry in about 1090 where it was combined with the pre-existing secular collge

{1}The removal of the Cluniac priory of St Augustine to Daventry around the year 1100 from its original site at Preston Capes may have been an acknowledgement of the settlement's existing status, or a deliberate attempt to attract commerce to the settletment … There is documentary evidence that Daventry was in some economic difficulty in the 15th-16th centuries, with the Priory itself central to the process, perhaps partly due to periods of misrule, notably up to 1442 when Prior Robert Man was arraigned before the Bishop of Lincoln. Amongst many accusations against him levelled by his convent was that he had allowed many of the buildings owned by the Priory to fall into severe decay. All this was in spite of previous warnings in 1432-3. In fact the Prior had seen difficult times since the early 13th century when it had gradually been seperated from its mother house, La Charite surLoire, and had been assimilated into the Benedictine Order with which it remained until its dissolution in 1526.

{2}Hugh of Leicester, steward in Daventry of the Countess Matilda wife of Simon de Senlis I, founded a small Cluniac priory next to his castle at Preston Capes in about 1090. The site proved inconvenient and the foundation unviable and therefore, with the permission of Simon de Senlis, he moved the priory to Daventry in about 1108, where it was combined with the pre-existing secular college. The endowments of the college were given to the priory, and the monastery was built next to the parochial church of St Augustine. The early years were difficult but Henry II’s grant of the ancient minster church of Fawsley put the priory on a sound financial footing. The 13th century saw Daventry’s manorial lords and other benefactors give generous gifts of property in Daventry, Drayton and some 24 other places, mostly in Northamptonshire. In 1254 the spiritualities were recorded as worth £79 9 4 and the temporalities as worth £41 4 11½. The Taxation of Pope Nicholas in 1291 (which excluded the churches belonging to the religious orders) valued the priory’s possessions at almost £43. The rents received from Daventry, Drayton and nearby Staverton exceeded £15. As a major property owner in the town the priory wielded considerable influence.

{5}The Dissolution survey of 1524-5 recorded that the Priory Manor and its demesne contained 360 acres of land, 100 acres of meadow, 20 acres of pasture and 10 acres of wood. The manor was worth £10 and the demesne land was worth £20. The priory’s holdings in Drayton consisted of 8 messuages, 200 acres of land, 40 acres of meadow, 40 acres of pasture and 10 shillings in rent. Their value was £10. After the Dissolution, the priory’s assets in Daventry, consisting of 16 yardlands, some closes and pasture grounds, and some houses and gardens, passed to Christ Church, Oxford. (Christ Church held a total of 22 cottages).The value at suppression was given as £237 7 6 by Bridges and £277 19 9 by Baker.

Hugh of Leicester, steward of the Countess Matilda in Daventry, founded a small Cluniac priory for four monks beside his castle at Preston Capes in c.1090. The foundation proved unviable and he accordingly moved it to Daventry in about 1108, where it was combined with the college of secular canons. The college was under the aegis of the Senlis earls of Northampton and Simon de Senlis gave its endowments to the priory and allowed monastic buildings ‘in honour of St Augustine, apostle of the English’ to be erected next to the parish church. The earls were more committed to their own Cluniac house in Northampton, however, and Daventry priory received little financial support until the grant of the minster church of Fawsley by Henry II. More gifts of property and church livings came from the manorial lords and other wealthy people and the priory became a major property owner in Daventry and Drayton holding land in some 24 other places, mostly in Northamptonshire.

It appears that Daventry dropped out of the Cluniac order in about 1231 and was treated as non-exempt by the bishops of Lincoln, but in 1298, 1390 and 1405, when there were 18 monks in the priory, it was reported to be a ‘cell directly subject to the priory of La Charite’. After the suppression of alien priories in England it became merged with the Benedictine order, like other Cluniac priories. At the bishop’s visitation in 1442 it was described as of the order of St Benet. There were 11 monks in the house at this date. It was suppressed in 1524 for Cardinal Wolsey’s college in Oxford. Its value at suppression was given as £237 7 6 by Bridges and £277 19 9 by Baker. The priory and church were sited in an oval enclosure which may have been the original manorial core of Daventry. In the medieval period they formed an ecclesiastical quarter on the eastern side of the market place.

{9} Field name: The Abbey (?) The Cluniac Priory formerly at Preston Capes which moved to Daventry in 1107-8. The priory left the Cluniac order in circa 1231 and was dissolved in 1525 after suppression by Cardinal Wolsey's college at Oxford.. In 1288, 1390 and 1405 there were 18 monks in the priory.

{10} Daventry Priory stood at the west end of the church stretching north.

{11} There are no above-ground remains of the priory to be seen today.

{12} Daventry priory owned Thrupp grounds at Long Buckby

{13} At its foundation the priory was endowed with the churches at Preston Capes, Elkington, Thorpe Mandeville, West Haddon and Cold Ashby, 4 mills, one at Everdon, and 3 virgates of land at Fawsley. It also owned the church, wood and fishponds at Daventry.

{15} Reconstructed plan of medieval layout of priory and priory plan of 1824 overlaid on modern mapping.

{16} Daventry. Cluniac priory, formerly at Preston Capes, where it was founded c.1090. Moved here 1107-8. Dropped out of the Cluniac Order c.1231. Dissolved 1525.

{17} Daventry Priory stood contiguous to the west end of the church, stretching northwards. The remains [see AO:60:382:1.] the upper floor of which, approached by a flight of steps, is supposed to have been the refectory have now been taken down. The cottages in the inner yard are the remains of the mansion built by the lessees out of the ruins of the monastery, and in use at the time of Elizabeth. (Dedicated to Mary de Caritate and St. Augustin) [An illustration in Baker shows a 2-storey building with an external flight of steps, possibly the refectory.]

{18} [SP 5750 6261] Priory [GT] (Site of).

{19} The church was demolished in the mid 18th century.The present Church building was built between 1752 and 1758. The building was designed by David Hiorne of Warwick who was a specialist in the Classical Style of architecture. The Church is built of local brown ironstone.

<1> Soden I., 1997, Saxon & Medieval Settlement Remains at St John's Square, Daventry, Northamptonshire 1994-5, (unchecked) (Report). SNN43504.

<2> BROWN A.E., 1991, Early Daventry (An Essay In Early Landscape Planning), (unchecked) (Book). SNN57948.

<3> THOMPSON A.H., 1918, VISITATIONS OF RELIGIOUS HOUSES II: 1436-49, 42-4 (unchecked) (Book). SNN57949.

<4> MAULL A.; SODEN I., 1998, Abbey Centre, Daventry, Northamptonshire: Stage 1-desk-based study, May 1998, (unchecked) (Report). SNN55935.

<4> Chapman A, 1998, Archaeological evaluation at The Abbey Centre, Daventry, Northamptonshire, September 1998, (unchecked) (Report). SNN110748.

<5> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Daventry (Medieval/Post Medieval/ Industrial), Section 3.1.1.3 Priory Manor (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100501.

<6> Soden I, 1996-7, Saxon and Medieval Settlement Remains at St John's Square, Daventry, Northamptonshire July 1994-February 1995, (Checked) (Article). SNN104070.

<7> Chapman A, 1998-9, Daventry, The Abbey Centre, (Checked) (Note). SNN104068.

<8> O'Sullivan D., 2006, The 'Little Dissolution' of the 1520s, p.227-258 (unchecked) (Report). SNN106011.

<9> Knowles; Hadcock, 1971, Medieval Religious Houses England and Wales, p.96 (unchecked) (Book). SNN10192.

<10> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP56SE12 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<11> County Architect, 1975, Old Abbey School, Daventry: Potential archaeological interest, (unchecked) (Correspondence). SNN57271.

<12> Steane J., 1974, The Northamptonshire Landscape, p.174-75 (unchecked) (Book). SNN5137.

<13> Serjeantson R.M.; Ryland W. (Editors), 1906, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.109-13 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100369.

<14> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, (unchecked) (Archive). SNN115.

<15> Soden I.; Brown, J., 2005, Daventry Priory and the House of York: Archaeological Excavations at Daventry Priory and the Market Place, Daventry, Northamptonshire 2004 (Full Report). SNN105278.

<16> Knowles; Hadcock, 1971, Medieval Religious Houses England and Wales, p. 96 (Book). SNN10192.

<17> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.310+317-18 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<18> Ordnance Survey Map (Scale/date), OS 6" 1928-50 (Map). SNN112944.

<19> Open Churches Trust, Holy Cross Church Daventry, [Accessed 31-Mar-2014] (Website). SNN113804.

<19> Daventry District Council, 2004, Outdoor Swimming Pool, [Accessed 31-Mar-2014] (Website). SNN113805.

Record last edited

Feb 10 2025 7:56PM