Blakenham Priory facts for kids
Blakenham Priory was a special kind of estate in Great Blakenham, Suffolk, England, a long time ago. It was owned by a group of monks during the late Middle Ages.
How Blakenham Priory Started
Around the time of King William Rufus (who ruled from 1087 to 1100), a powerful nobleman named Walter Giffard became the first Earl of Buckingham. His father, also named Walter Giffard, was a lord from Normandy. He had fought alongside William the Conqueror in the famous Battle of Hastings in 1066. For his help, he was given many lands in England.
Young Walter inherited these lands by 1085 and became an Earl around 1097. This rich and important nobleman later gave the land of Blakenham to a very famous abbey called Bec.
Bec Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Normandy, France, near Rouen. It was founded in 1034. It became a major center for learning and ideas in the 11th century. This was thanks to smart leaders like Lanfranc of Pavia and later Anselm. Both of these men became Archbishop of Canterbury, a very important religious role in England. Because of them, Bec Abbey became one of the most important monasteries in the Anglo-Norman kingdom in the 12th century.
Many of William the Conqueror's friends and followers also gave land and money to Bec Abbey. This made the abbey very wealthy. By the 15th century, Bec owned several smaller monasteries, called priories, in England. These included St Neots, Stoke-by-Clare, Wilsford, Steventon, Cowick, Ogbourne, and at some point, Blakenham and Povington Priory. St Neots Priory was especially large. Bec also owned Goldcliff Priory in Monmouthshire.
You might have heard of Tooting Bec, a part of London today. Its name comes from the fact that the medieval village there was also owned by Bec Abbey!
Managing the Estate
An estate as big as Blakenham needed someone to look after it. This was probably done by one or two monks. They would have had a small chapel and offices at the manor house. Blakenham was later known as an "alien priory" or "cell." This term meant it was a smaller monastic property owned by a larger monastery, usually in another country. It didn't always mean there were big monastery buildings.
For a long time, Blakenham was managed by the prior (the head monk) of Ruislip in Middlesex. In the 1220s, a man named Thomas Ardern tried to claim ownership of Blakenham. But with the king's help, the rights of Bec Abbey, represented by the prior of Ruislip, were confirmed. Later, the prior of Ogbourne in Wiltshire became responsible for Blakenham. His involvement is mentioned in records from 1291 and 1325.
Blakenham as an "Alien Priory"
Because Blakenham was an "alien priory" – meaning it belonged to a French monastery – its ownership in England was sometimes uncertain. This was especially true when England and France were fighting, like during the Hundred Years' War. The fate of Blakenham would change depending on how the war was going.
This uncertainty for Blakenham ended during the reign of King Henry VI. Between 1440 and 1441, Blakenham Priory was given to Eton College. This gift was confirmed again by King Edward IV in 1467.
