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Dunstable Priory
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Dunstable Priory
The Priory Church of St Peter with its monastery (Dunstable Priory) was founded in 1132 by Henry I for Augustinian Canons in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. St Peter's today is only the nave of what remains of an originally much larger Augustinian priory church. The monastic buildings consisted of a dormitory for the monks, an infirmary, stables, workshops, bakehouse, brewhouse and buttery. There was also a hostel for pilgrims and travellers, the remains of which is known today as Priory House. Opposite the Priory was one of the royal palaces belonging to Henry I, known as Kingsbury.
The present church and Deanery form part of the Archdeaconry of Bedford, located within the Diocese of St Albans. It became a Grade I listed building on 25 October 1951.
The Augustinian priory of Dunstable was founded by Henry I about the year 1132, and endowed by him at the same time with the lordship of the manor and town in which it stood. Tradition says that the same king was also the founder of the town and had caused the forest to be cleared away from the point where Watling Street and the Icknield Way crossed each other, on account of the robbers who infested the highway. He granted to the priory all such liberties and rights in the town of Dunstable as he held in his own demesne lands. He also endowed the Priory with the quarry at Totternhoe.
His charter was confirmed by Henry II; and before the reign of Richard I a great many of the churches of the neighborhood had also been granted to the priory by as many as thirteen different benefactors, besides the chapel of Ruxox, in the county of Bedford, with Cublington, North Marston and half Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and Higham Ferrers with half Pattishall, Northamptonshire. Several of these gifts were disputed before the century was out, but most of them were retained by the priory throughout its existence.
Dunstable priory was a daughter house of Holy Trinity Priory, which itself had been founded from St. Botolph's Priory in Colchester. Bernard, the first prior of the house, was closely associated with the introduction of Austin Canons into England. His brother Norman became prior first of St. Botolph's, and then of Holy Trinity. They had traveled to Chartres and Beauvais to learn the Rule of Saint Augustine, with a view to introducing it into England.
At the beginning of the 13th century, in the year 1202, Richard de Morins, a canon of Merton, became prior of Dunstable. From 1210 he took over as Dunstable's chronicler. He was evidently a man of very varied interests and a considerable capacity for affairs. Before he had been prior a year he was dispatched on the king's business to Rome; and it was probably owing to his influence that the lordship of Houghton Regis, with other gifts, were confirmed to the priory in 1203.
During his term of office, in the year 1219, he secured the right of holding a court at Dunstable for all pleas of the Crown, and of sitting beside the justices itinerant at their visits to the town: a privilege which brought him into less happy relations with the townsmen and may have helped to hasten their revolt against his authority in 1228. He also successfully established the right of his house to the Harlington church in 1223. The priory was twice visited by Henry III. during the time of Richard de Morins: once after the siege of Bedford Castle, and again in the midst of the troubles connected with the burgesses, whom he attempted to pacify, at the prior's earnest request.
In spite of the losses under King John and the difficulties with the burgesses, the priory seems to have enjoyed greater prosperity at this time than at any later period of which we have a clear account. In 1213 the conventual church was dedicated by Bishop Hugh of Wells. The gift of the church of Bradbourne in the Peak, with its chapels and lands, provided maintenance for three canons, and formed a kind of cell to the priory. The death of Richard de Morins in 1242 was followed immediately by heavy losses. In 1243, 800 of the sheep belonging to the priory in the Peak district died, and a succession of bad seasons led to great scarcity. By 1255 the canons not only had no corn to sell but not enough for themselves; they had to buy all their food at great expense, for two years after this; so that the Friars Preachers, when they arrived in 1259, were even less welcome than they would have been at any ordinary time. When Simon of Eaton became prior in 1262, he found the house 400 marks in debt, and all the wool of the year already sold.
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Dunstable Priory
The Priory Church of St Peter with its monastery (Dunstable Priory) was founded in 1132 by Henry I for Augustinian Canons in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. St Peter's today is only the nave of what remains of an originally much larger Augustinian priory church. The monastic buildings consisted of a dormitory for the monks, an infirmary, stables, workshops, bakehouse, brewhouse and buttery. There was also a hostel for pilgrims and travellers, the remains of which is known today as Priory House. Opposite the Priory was one of the royal palaces belonging to Henry I, known as Kingsbury.
The present church and Deanery form part of the Archdeaconry of Bedford, located within the Diocese of St Albans. It became a Grade I listed building on 25 October 1951.
The Augustinian priory of Dunstable was founded by Henry I about the year 1132, and endowed by him at the same time with the lordship of the manor and town in which it stood. Tradition says that the same king was also the founder of the town and had caused the forest to be cleared away from the point where Watling Street and the Icknield Way crossed each other, on account of the robbers who infested the highway. He granted to the priory all such liberties and rights in the town of Dunstable as he held in his own demesne lands. He also endowed the Priory with the quarry at Totternhoe.
His charter was confirmed by Henry II; and before the reign of Richard I a great many of the churches of the neighborhood had also been granted to the priory by as many as thirteen different benefactors, besides the chapel of Ruxox, in the county of Bedford, with Cublington, North Marston and half Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and Higham Ferrers with half Pattishall, Northamptonshire. Several of these gifts were disputed before the century was out, but most of them were retained by the priory throughout its existence.
Dunstable priory was a daughter house of Holy Trinity Priory, which itself had been founded from St. Botolph's Priory in Colchester. Bernard, the first prior of the house, was closely associated with the introduction of Austin Canons into England. His brother Norman became prior first of St. Botolph's, and then of Holy Trinity. They had traveled to Chartres and Beauvais to learn the Rule of Saint Augustine, with a view to introducing it into England.
At the beginning of the 13th century, in the year 1202, Richard de Morins, a canon of Merton, became prior of Dunstable. From 1210 he took over as Dunstable's chronicler. He was evidently a man of very varied interests and a considerable capacity for affairs. Before he had been prior a year he was dispatched on the king's business to Rome; and it was probably owing to his influence that the lordship of Houghton Regis, with other gifts, were confirmed to the priory in 1203.
During his term of office, in the year 1219, he secured the right of holding a court at Dunstable for all pleas of the Crown, and of sitting beside the justices itinerant at their visits to the town: a privilege which brought him into less happy relations with the townsmen and may have helped to hasten their revolt against his authority in 1228. He also successfully established the right of his house to the Harlington church in 1223. The priory was twice visited by Henry III. during the time of Richard de Morins: once after the siege of Bedford Castle, and again in the midst of the troubles connected with the burgesses, whom he attempted to pacify, at the prior's earnest request.
In spite of the losses under King John and the difficulties with the burgesses, the priory seems to have enjoyed greater prosperity at this time than at any later period of which we have a clear account. In 1213 the conventual church was dedicated by Bishop Hugh of Wells. The gift of the church of Bradbourne in the Peak, with its chapels and lands, provided maintenance for three canons, and formed a kind of cell to the priory. The death of Richard de Morins in 1242 was followed immediately by heavy losses. In 1243, 800 of the sheep belonging to the priory in the Peak district died, and a succession of bad seasons led to great scarcity. By 1255 the canons not only had no corn to sell but not enough for themselves; they had to buy all their food at great expense, for two years after this; so that the Friars Preachers, when they arrived in 1259, were even less welcome than they would have been at any ordinary time. When Simon of Eaton became prior in 1262, he found the house 400 marks in debt, and all the wool of the year already sold.
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