November 1173-1536 A.D. St. Mary Magdalen Nunnery, Bristol—Augustinian Canonesses; Founded in 1173; Dissolved in 1536; Granted to Henry Brayne & John Marsh; King David Inn Built on Site
St Mary Magdalen Nunnery, Bristol
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St Mary Magdalen Nunnery
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Shown within Bristol
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Basic information
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Location
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District
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Demolished
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St
Mary Magdalen Nunnery (grid reference ST585733) was a prioryof Augustinian canonesses in Kingsdown, Bristol, England. It was founded c. 1173 and dissolved in 1536.[1] St Mary Magdalen is remembered in the name of
Maudlin Street; the nunnery was located near to the corner of Maudlin Street
and St Michael's Hill, which was later the site of the King David
Inn.[2]
Contents
Foundation
The nunnery was founded by Eva
Fitzharding, who endowed it with lands in Southmead and became its first prioress. Her ancestry is not
known. She was the widow of Robert
Fitzharding, a wealthy burgess of Bristol who had risen to become the Lord of Berkeley. He had founded St Augustine's Abbey, which
later became Bristol Cathedral, and he too ended his days as a canon of the religious
house he had founded.[3][4]
Later history
From the 13th century
onwards the nunnery was very poor, and for that reason exempt from taxation and
procuration payments to the Bishop of
Worcester, within
whose diocese the nunnery was.[1] In 1480 when William Worcester was measuring out Bristol's religious buildings,
there were only three nuns. He paced out their church as being just
27 steps long.[5] His steps have been estimated at around
21 inches (53 cm) on average.[6] Some remains of the nunnery, Perpendicular in style, have been found on the site of the
King David Inn.[2]
In 1535 when the net annual
incomes of the Bristol religious houses were assessed in the Valor
Ecclesiasticus, St Mary Magdalen had a complement of 2 nuns and an income of £21,
compared to the figures of 19 and £670 for St Augustine's Abbey.[7]
Dissolution
The inn on the site of the nunnery in 1882
In the Dissolution
of the Monasteries, St Mary Magdalen was the only "lesser" religious house in
Bristol to be seized by the Crown's commissioners under the Act for the Dissolution
of the Lesser Monasteries, which was passed in 1536. They found the nunnery to
be without debt and the building in good condition, but its possessions to be
worth only a few pounds. The two dispossessed nuns were Eleanor Graunt, an old
woman who had been prioress since around 1521, and a young novice. They were
not given pensions and what happened to them afterwards is not known. The house
then became a private residence.[1][7]
References
1. ^ Jump up to:a b c Page, William (1907). "Houses of Augustinian canonesses: The priory of St
Mary Magdalen, Bristol". Victoria County History. British History Online. Retrieved
2010-09-13.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b "Nunnery of St Mary Magdalen". Pastscape. English Heritage. 2001. Retrieved
2010-09-13.
3. Jump up^ Sivier, David (2002). Anglo-Saxon and Norman Bristol. Stroud, Gloucestershire:
Tempus. pp. 75–76. ISBN 0-7524-2533-1.
4. Jump up^ Bettey, Joseph (2000). Rogan,
John, ed. Bristol Cathedral: History and Architecture. Charleston: Tempus.
pp. 15–19. ISBN 0-7524-1482-8.
5. Jump up^ Neale, Frances (2001). Bettey,
Joseph, ed. Historic Churches and Church Life in Bristol. Bristol: Bristol and
Gloucestershire Historical Society. p. 47. ISBN 0-900197-53-6.
6. Jump up^ Neale, Frances (2001). Bettey,
Joseph, ed. Historic Churches and Church Life in Bristol. Bristol: Bristol and
Gloucestershire Historical Society. p. 29. ISBN 0-900197-53-6.
7. ^ Jump up to:a b Bettey, Joseph (1990). The Suppression of the
Religious Houses in Bristol. Bristol: Bristol Branch of the Historical
Association. pp. 7–14. ISBN 0-901388-57-2
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