Monastic Wales.








Event detail for site: Cardigan

c. 1535: Wealth

According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus the priory’s gross income was £32.

£25 6s 8d of this came from Cardigan's spiritualities and £6 13s 4d from its temporalities; the priory held two churches, one of which was appropriated. Like other small houses, Cardigan relied strongly on the income from its home parish.

Bibliographical sources

Printed sources

Heale, Martin, The Dependent Priories of Medieval English Monasteries, Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 22 (Boydell and Brewer: Woodbridge, 2004) pp. 240-1, 243, 245

Web links (open in new window)

Detail of Valor Ecclesiasticus (View website)

Archival sources

The National Archives, 'The Valor Ecclesiasticus', (Document), (View website)

Other events in the history of this site

c.1115: Foundation - Gilbert fitz Richard, earl of Clare (d. 1115), granted the church of the Holy Trinity at Cardigan to the monks of St Peter's, Gloucester, c. 1110 x 1115. [1 sources]
c.1165: Change of affiliation - By this time ownership of Cardigan had passed from Gloucester to Chertsey Abbey, Surrey. [1 sources]
c.1291: Wealth - At this time Cardigan held 240 acres of arable. [2 sources]
1322: Custody - By the fourteenth century Cardigan was impoverished, a consequence of warfare, ‘scarcity and other such matters', and was accordingly taken into royal custody. [1 sources]
1534: Act of Supremacy - Prior Thomas Hore acknowledged royal supremacy. [3 sources]
c.1535: Wealth - According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus the priory’s gross income was £32. [2 sources][1 archives]
1537 (December): Affiliation - Cardigan Priory was granted to Bisham Priory, Berkshire, a former Augustinian house which had just been re-founded as a Benedictine monastery.  [2 sources]
pre 1538: Pilgrim centre - On the eve of the Dissolution Cardigan Priory was a popular pilgrimage centre.  [2 sources][1 archives]
1538: Dissolution - Cardigan was dissolved with its mother-house (Bisham) on 26 June 1538.
At this time there were two monks. [3 sources]
1540 (February) : Ownership - Following its suppression Cardigan was granted to William Cavendish and his wife, Margaret, for £769 8s 4d and duly converted into a mansion. [1 sources]
1922: Conversion - The former priory opened as Cardigan District and Memorial Hospital.  
 
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