Monastic Wales.








Event detail for site: Usk

1536: Dissolution

In June 1536 the priory was surveyed and on 29 August it was dissolved. At this time the prioress, Ellen Williams, resided with five other nuns; she was granted a pension on 28 June.

Bibliographical sources

Printed sources

Faculty Office Registers 1534-49: a calendar of the first two registers of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Faculty Office, ed. D. S. Chambers (Oxford, 1966) p. 82

The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales, III, 1377-1540, ed. David M. Smith (CUP: Cambridge, 2008) p. 701

Letters and Papers Foreign and Domestic, of the reign of Henry VIII, 1509-47, 23 in 38 vols, ed. J.S. Brewer, R.H. Brodie and J. Gairdner (London, 1862- 1932) vol. 13: 1, p. 575, no. 1520

Cowley, F. G., The Monastic Order in South Wales 1066-1349 (Cardiff, 1977) pp. 38, 56

Jack, Sybil, 'Dissolution dates for the monasteries dissolved under the Act of 1536', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 43 (1970) p. 180

Williams, David H., 'Usk nunnery', Monmouthshire Antiquary, 4 (1980) p. 45

Other events in the history of this site

pre 1135: Foundation - Richard de Clare settled Benedictine nuns at Usk before 1135. [1 sources]
pre 1176: Concessions - Richard Strongbow, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (d. 1176) granted an important charter to the priory. [2 sources]
1246: Election - The community received licence to elect a new prioress.  [3 sources]
1284: Visitation - Visitation conducted by Archbishop Pecham. [3 sources]
c.1291: Wealth - According to the Taxatio of 1291 the priory had twenty-four acres of arable and its temporalities and spiritualities totalled £42 6s.  [2 sources]
1322: Patronage - Edward II granted the patronage of the house to Hugh Despenser the Younger (d. 1326), together with the advowsons of Caerleon (Llantarnam) Abbey. [2 sources]
1330: Confirmation - Elizabeth de Burgh confirmed an important charter granted to the house by Richard Strongbow. [2 sources]
c.1360: Bequest - Elizabeth de Burgh (lady Clare) left the nuns £6 13s 4d and two cloths of gold. [1 sources][1 archives]
1404: Papal indulgences - Adam of Usk requested the pope that indulgences be granted to attract alms to St Radegund’s chapel at Usk Priory which had been devatsated by warfare. [4 sources]
1440: Burial - Adam of Usk, writer and lawyer, was buried at the house. [1 sources]
1514: Burial - William Bakere willed to be buried before an image of "Blessed Mary of the Priory."  [1 sources]
1516: Disputed election - There was a tussle between Joan Harryman and Catherine Kemmys over the office of prioress.  [2 sources][1 archives]
c.1535: Wealth - On the eve of the Dissolution the net income of the house, according to the Valor Ecclesiasticus, was £55. [2 sources][1 archives]
1536: Dissolution - In June 1536 the priory was surveyed and on 29 August it was dissolved. At this time the prioress, Ellen Williams, resided with five other nuns; she was granted a pension on 28 June.  [6 sources]
 
Graphic.