Monastic Wales.








Event detail for site: Ewenny

pre 1131: Foundation

It is not known when precisely Ewenny Priory was founded but it had its origins before 1131 when William of London (d. 1131), lord of Ogmore Castle, gave the church of St Michael there to St Peter's, Gloucester, to establish a cell.

Several surviving documents relating to Gloucester Abbey suggest that the foundation took place in the 1130s - a letter written by Abbot Gilbert Foliot of St Peter's reveals that the priory church of Ewenny was dedicated during Bishop Urban of Llandaff's episcopate (1107-34), while a charter in the abbey's cartulary records that Earl Robert of Gloucester quit Ewenny from paying toll through his land while Walter de Lacy was abbot of Gloucester (1130-39).
As a dependency of Gloucester, Ewenny was required to pay the abbey an annual sum as a mark of its subservience.
Further, the abbot and convent of Gloucester were responsible for appointing officials, for leasing Ewenny's lands and presenting candidates to churches. The mother-house also retained the right to send and recall monks from its cell and as Heale (Dependent Priories, pp. 88, 123) explains, a characteristic of dependencies was the regular rotation of staff.

Bibliographical sources

Printed sources

Historia et Cartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestria, Rolls Series, 33, 3 vols, ed. W. H. Hart (London, 1863-1867) vol. 1, pp. 75-6

The Letters and Charters of Gilbert Foliot, Abbot of Gloucester (1139-48), Bishop of Hereford (1148-63), and London (1163-87), ed. Z. N. Brooke, completed by Dom Adrian Morey and C. N. L. Brooke (Cambridge, 1967) no. 45 (p. 82)

Cowley, F. G., The Monastic Order in South Wales 1066-1349 (Cardiff, 1977) pp. 15-17

Heale, Martin, The Dependent Priories of Medieval English Monasteries, Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 22 (Boydell and Brewer: Woodbridge, 2004) pp. 88, 123, 291

Other events in the history of this site

pre 1131: Foundation - It is not known when precisely Ewenny Priory was founded but it had its origins before 1131 when William of London (d. 1131), lord of Ogmore Castle, gave the church of St Michael there to St Peter's, Gloucester, to establish a cell.  [4 sources]
1141: Re-foundation and change in status - Ewenny was raised to conventual status. [2 sources]
1144: Burial - The burial of Maurice of London’s sister, Matilda, caused a serious dispute between Prior John of Ewenny and the bishop of Llandaff.  [1 sources]
1284: Visitation - Archbishop Pecham conducted a visitation of the house; the injunctions survive. [2 sources]
c.1291: Wealth - According to the Taxatio Ecclesiastica Ewenny's income was estimated at £56. [2 sources]
c.1300: Patronage - At this time the patron of Ewenny was Payn de Chaworth.  [2 sources]
1400x1415: Destruction - The house suffered extensive damage during the rebellion of Owain Glyn Dŵr. [1 sources]
1534: Numbers - Two monks and a prior subscribed to the Act of Supremacy. [3 sources]
c.1535: Wealth - According to the Valor Ecclesiastcus Ewenny’s gross income was £78 14s. [2 sources][1 archives]
c.1535: Stewardship - According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus, the earl of Worcester held the stewardship of Ewenny at this time.
 [1 sources]
1537 (28 February): Custody - Gloucester Abbey leased Ewenny Priory and its appurtenants to Sir Edward Carne for a period of ninety-nine years and for the rather menial rent of £20 10s per annum. [1 sources]
1540: Dissolution - The priory was surrendered with Gloucester Abbey on 2 January 1540.  [3 sources]
 
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