5. THE PRIORY OF HENWOOD
In the beginning of the reign of Henry II,
when Walter Durdent was bishop of Chester
(1149-1161), Ketelberne de Langdon founded
a priory for Benedictine nuns, dedicated to the
honour of St. Margaret, in his lordship of Langdon, in the parish of Solihull. It was built near
a fair spring lying to the east of Langdon, and
was at first termed Estwell. He granted to the
nuns considerable lands at Langdon, with free
court and all customs and liberties, with pasturage
and pannage, together with the right of taking
timber for building their church and dwellings
from the woods of Langdon, and leave to erect
a mill on any suitable site opposite his own
lands. After a time it came to be called Heanwood or Henwood,' by reason of the tall oaks
there growing, the word bean in our old English
signifying high.' (fn. 1)
In 1228 Pope Gregory IX granted the nuns
confirmation of their tithes in Solihull and the
rest of their possessions, including a virgate of
land in Radbourne, and the advowson of that
church, which had been appropriated to them
by leave of Bishop Geoffrey Muschamp (11981215). (fn. 2)
The abbot and convent of Westminster bestowed on the priory in 1305 fifteen acres of
their waste in Langdon by Solihull. (fn. 3) In connexion with this it may be noticed that on the
appointment of Margaret Curzon as prioress in
1310, (fn. 4) and on subsequent occasions the abbot
of Westminster is named as the patron of the
house, but the election was in the hands of the
sisters, merely requiring his confirmation.
The prioress and nuns of Henwood obtained
licence in 1327 to acquire in mortmain land
and rent to the yearly value of £70. (fn. 5) On
13 February, 1330, licence was granted, covered
by the licence of 1327, to Richard le Fevre to
grant a yearly rent of 20s. 3d., together with
messuages and land of the annual value of 10s. 8d.
in various Warwickshire parishes, to the prioress
and nuns of Henwood. (fn. 6)
Richard II, in 1399, granted the advowson of
Charlton-on-Otmoor, Oxfordshire, to the priory. (fn. 7)
In the same year Henry IV conferred on them
the advowson of the church of Everdon, Northamptonshire. (fn. 8) In 1404 Pope Innocent VII
sanctioned the appropriation of both these
churches, in a bull which is given in full in the
Monasticon. (fn. 9) From this it appears that the
church of Bickenhill, Warwickshire, had been
appropriated to this house at its first foundation.
Due care was to be taken to assign proper
stipends for the vicars of the two appropriated
churches, and also for the assistance of the poor
of the two parishes. It also appears from the
bull that the priory, which at that time had
twelve nuns, was in great poverty.
The Black Death wrought much havoc in the
priory. On 19 August, 1349, there was no
prioress, ' and of fifteen nuns which lately were
there, three only reman.' Lady Joan Fokerham,
one of the three sisters, was appointed prioress in
the following month. (fn. 10)
Alice Higford was prioress in 1535, when the
Valor Ecclesiasticus was taken. The clear annual
value of this priory was only £21 2s. 0½d.
Bread was distributed annually to the poor on
Maundy Thursday to the value of 4s. (fn. 11)
The commissioners of 1536 reported that the
priory of Black Nuns of Henwood was of the
annual value of £23 14s. 3d. The religious
with the prioress numbered six ' and one other
somtyme priores ther of thage of iiiixx and viii
(88) years and upwards'; they were all of good
conversation and living. They were further reported as
very content to delyver unto us the said priorie to the
kynges our sovereigne lords use wher uppon we toke
the same and discharged the Nones ymmediately.
There were seven dependants, namely, one
priest, one yeoman, two hinds, and three dairy
women. The house was 'ruynous and in moche
decaye,' but there were 'iii little manuelle
Belles' worth 20s. The stocks and goods were
worth £24 5s. 1d., and there were 60 acres of
wood. The debts of the house amounted to
£27 18s. 10d. (fn. 12)
Joan (? Alice) Hygford, the prioress, had a
grant made of the very small pension of £3 6s. 8d.
on 3 December, 1536. (fn. 13) She was living and
drawing her pension in 1553. (fn. 14)
In 1540 the site and the possessions of the
priory were sold to John Higford by the crown
for the sum of £207 5s. (fn. 15)
PRIORESSES OF HENWOOD
Maud, occurs late Henry III (fn. 16)
Katherine Boydin, resigned 1310 (fn. 17)
Margaret Curzon, elected 1310, (fn. 18) resigned
1339
Millicent de Fokerham, elected 1339, (fn. 19) died
1349
Joan Fokerham, appointed 1349 (fn. 20)
Joan de Pickford, died 1392 (fn. 21)
Eleanor de Stoke, elected 1392 (fn. 21)
Joyce Middlemore, instituted 1439 (fn. 22)
Alice Waring, occurs 1460 (fn. 23)
Elizabeth Pultney, occurs 1498 (fn. 24)
Alice (Joan) Higford, occurs 1535-6
The thirteenth-century seal is a pointed oval:
St. Margaret, with nimbus, standing on a dragon
and piercing his head with a long cross; in the
left hand a book. In the field on the left a
lily-flower. Legend:—
SIGILLVM . S' . MA[RGAR]ETE . DE
HINEWODE (fn. 25)