Monastic Wales.








Event detail for site: Cardigan

1538: Dissolution

Cardigan was dissolved with its mother-house (Bisham) on 26 June 1538.
At this time there were two monks.

John Leland noted that there were generally two or three monks at the cell.

Bibliographical sources

Printed sources

The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales, III, 1377-1540, ed. David M. Smith (CUP: Cambridge, 2008) p. 21

Heale, Martin, The Dependent Priories of Medieval English Monasteries, Studies in the History of Medieval Religion, 22 (Boydell and Brewer: Woodbridge, 2004) p. 311

Rex, R. and Armstrong, C. D. C., 'Henry VIII’s ecclesiastical and collegiate foundations', Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, 75 (2002) pp. 395-398

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.  
 
Graphic.