{{Short description|Alien house of Benedictine monks in Edith Weston, Rutland}}{{Use British English|date=August 2021}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox monastery | name = Edith Weston Priory | image = Small bay near Edith Weston - geograph.org.uk - 1005363.jpg | alt = | caption = Where the priory once stood is now this shallow bay in [[Rutland Water]] | full = | order = [[Benedictine]] | established = 1114 | disestablished = 1394 | mother = [[Abbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville]], France | dedication = | diocese = [[Diocese of Lincoln]] | churches = | founder = | abbot = | prior = | people = | location = [[Edith Weston]], [[Rutland]], England | map_type = Rutland | coordinates = {{coord|52.6405|-0.6347|type:landmark_region:GB|display=inline,title}} | oscoor = | remains = | public_access = | other_info = }} '''Edith Weston Priory''' was a small [[alien house]] of [[Benedictine]] monks in [[Edith Weston]], [[Rutland]]. The French parent house of [[Abbey of Saint-Georges, Boscherville]] was founded by Ralf de Tanquerville, chamberlain to [[William the Conqueror]], about the year 1050. By 1114 his son William donated the church and manor at Edith Weston, and a small cell of monks was set up to collect the rents and intercede for the founder's soul.<ref name=VCH1>{{cite book|chapter=Alien Cell: Priory of Edith Weston |title=A History of the County of Rutland: Volume 1 |year=1908 |pages=163–164 |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=39914 |access-date=26 May 2013 |editor1-first=William |editor1-last=Page |series=Victoria County History}}</ref><ref name=PS1>{{cite PastScape|mnumber=325159|mname=Edith Weston Priory|access-date=26 May 2013}}</ref>
The cell was one of two in England: William founded [[Avebury Priory]] in Wiltshire around the same time.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/wilts/vol3/pp392-393|title=A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 3|date=1956|publisher=University of London|editor1-last=Pugh|editor1-first=R.B.|editor1-link=Ralph Pugh|series=[[Victoria County History]]|pages=392-393|chapter=Alien Houses: The Priory of Avebury|access-date=6 August 2021|editor2-last=Crittall|editor2-first=Elizabeth|via=British History Online}}</ref> Like all alien houses, control (and revenues) passed to the Crown in time of war with France, and it was during one of these periods that the priory closed. The last known Prior was in 1361, and by 1394 the church and manor had been sold to [[St. Anne's Priory, Coventry]], bringing the priory to an end.<ref name=VCH1/><ref name=PS1/>
[[Nikolaus Pevsner|Pevsner]] was dismissive of the priory, saying that [[Brooke Priory]] was the only monastery in Rutland as "Edith Weston hardly counts as one".<ref>{{cite book|first1=Nikolaus |last1=Pevsner |first2=Elizabeth |last2=Williamson |first3=Geoffrey K. |last3=Brandwood |series=The buildings of England |title=Leicestershire and Rutland|year=1985|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=9780300096187|author-link=Nikolaus Pevsner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UYlQ6DJdJ4AC&q=brooke+priory+rutland&pg=PA439|access-date=26 May 2013}}</ref>
The earthwork remains probably now lie below the waters of [[Rutland Water]].<ref name=PS1/>
==Priors of Edith Weston== Only a few names are known:<ref name=VCH1/><ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=David Michael|title=The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales: 1377-1540|year=1972|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521865081|page=158|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aRDqqGWj3ikC&q=edith+weston+priory+rutland&pg=PA158|series= The Heads of Religious Houses, England and Wales |volume=3 }}</ref> * John, 1295–1298 * Hugh de Altifago, 1324–1326 * Robert de Cunebaud, 1339–1355 * William de Beauvey, 1355 * Robert, 1361 * John, 1375, 1379 Robert de Cunebaud is known as a delinquent whose abuses were used to justify widespread suspicion of alien cells<ref name=VCH1/>
==References== {{reflist}} *{{cite book|first1=David |last1=Knowles |first2=R Neville |last2=Hadcock |year=1971 |title=Medieval religious houses in England and Wales|isbn=978-0582112308|publisher=Longman|page=89}}
{{Monasteries in Leicestershire |state=expanded}}
[[Category:Monasteries in Rutland]] [[Category:Benedictine monasteries in England]] [[Category:12th-century establishments in England]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1110s]]