Chicksands Priory facts for kids
Chicksands Priory is an old building in Chicksands, Bedfordshire, England. It used to be a home for monks and nuns many centuries ago.
Contents
History of Chicksands Priory
How Chicksands Priory Started
Chicksands Priory was founded around 1152 by a woman named Rohese, Countess of Essex, and her husband, Payn de Beauchamp. They gave the priory land and the local church to help it get started.
The priory belonged to the Gilbertine Order, which was a special group of religious people. This order was created by Gilbert of Sempringham. What made Chicksands Priory unique was that it was one of only ten places in England that housed both nuns (women) and canons (men) together.
Important Visitors and Growth
By the year 1200, Chicksands Priory had become one of the biggest and richest homes for the Gilbertine Order.
A very famous person, Archbishop Thomas Becket, is said to have stayed at Chicksands Priory for a short time. This happened in 1164 when he was trying to leave England to escape King Henry II.
Changes Over the Years
After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1500s, when many religious houses were closed down, Chicksands Priory changed hands. It first went to the Snowe family and then, in 1576, to the Osborne family. The Osbornes owned the priory for almost 400 years!
Dorothy Osborne, a well-known letter-writer, lived at Chicksands from her birth in 1627 until she got married in 1654.
The building itself has been changed many times over the years. Some parts of the original priory are still there. Important changes were made in 1740 by the architect Isaac Ware and again in 1813 by James Wyatt. Wyatt designed the entrance hall, staircase, and porch in the Gothic Revival style, which made it look like an old castle.
Modern Times and New Uses
In 1936, the Crown Commissioners bought the Chicksands Priory estate. It was later rented out until the Royal Navy took it over in 1940. After a few months, the RAF moved in, and it became known as RAF Chicksands.
In 1950, the United States Air Force (USAF) took over the site. They used it as a "listening post" until September 1995. This means they used special equipment to listen to radio signals.
Chicksands Priory is now a Grade I listed building, which means it's a very important historic building that needs to be protected. A group called "Friends of Chicksands Priory" was formed in 1975. They offered tours of the building to the public until 1996. After a lot of restoration work in 1997 and 1998, the priory reopened for tours in 1999.
In 2001, the TV show Time Team dug up parts of the site. They found what they believed was part of the infirmary (a place for the sick) and several graves. They also found clues about how the building was laid out long ago.
More recently, in November 2019, a team from the British Army began restoring the gardens of the priory.
Burials
One important person buried at the priory was Rohese de Vere, Countess of Essex, who helped found the priory.
