Castle Hedingham Priory

The Benedictine nunnery which stood by the river on Nunnery Street was founded c.1180 by Aubrey De Vere, the 1st Earl of Oxford.

It was dedicated to St James, the Holy Cross and the Virgin Mary.

The original Priory stood at 51.99009° N 0.588343°

The first prioress was Lucy (or Lucia), named in a well-preserved, early thirteenth-century mortuary role in which she is named as the foundress of the priory.

The convent was torched by Aubrey IV in 1190 which led to him being fined 100 marcs by the king and as an act of atonement he donated additional property to the priory in February 1191

The small priory was one of 16 nunneries exclusively for women founded between 1165 and 1215 in southern England. By 1535, at the time of its dissolution, it was valued at only £29 12s. 10d, with a little over 250 acres (1.0 km2) in small parcels in 23 manors, two churches and three advowsons. The king granted it to John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, with all its possessions in 1536.[4] No cartulary is known to have survived, only individual charters.

References[edit]

 * 1) Jump up^ Victoria County History, Essex, II, 122.
 * 2) Jump up^ William Dugdale, 'Monasticon Anglicanum, IV, 437-8, num. I.