Ranton Abbey

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}} {{Infobox building | name = Ranton Abbey | former_names = | alternate_names = Ranton Priory | image = Ranton Abbey - Abbey House remains - geograph.org.uk - 5108453.jpg | image_alt = | caption = Ranton Abbey tower and ivy-covered remains of Abbey House, destroyed by fire in [[World War II]], viewed from southwest, May 2008 | pushpin_map = | pushpin_map_alt = | map_caption = | altitude = | building_type = [[Priory]] | architectural_style = | structural_system = | cost = | ren_cost = | client = | owner = | current_tenants = | landlord = | location = [[Ranton, Staffordshire|Ranton]], [[Staffordshire]], [[England]] | address = | location_town = | location_country = | coordinates = {{coord|52.81576|-2.24149|type:landmark_region:GB-STS|display=inline,title}} | construction_start_date = circa 1150 | completion_date = | inauguration_date = | renovation_date = | demolished_date = | destruction_date = | height = | diameter = | antenna_spire = | roof = | top_floor = | other_dimensions = | floor_count = | floor_area = | seating_type = | seating_capacity = | elevator_count = | main_contractor = | architect = | architecture_firm = | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | civil_engineer = | other_designers = | quantity_surveyor = | awards = | ren_architect = | ren_firm = | ren_str_engineer = | ren_serv_engineer = | ren_civ_engineer = | ren_oth_designers = | ren_qty_surveyor = | ren_awards = | url = | references = }}

'''Ranton Abbey''' or '''Ranton Priory''' was an [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] [[Priory]] in [[Ranton, Staffordshire|Ranton]], [[Staffordshire]], [[England]], built c.1150 by Robert fitz Noel of Ellenhall.<ref name="VCH">{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=37853|title=Houses of Augustinian canons: The priory of Ranton|author=various|year=1970|work=Victoria County History: A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 3|accessdate=20 March 2011}}</ref> The priory flourished in the 13th century as a subordinate house to [[Haughmond Abbey]] (near [[Shrewsbury]]).<ref name="Ranton Abbey">[http://www.thornber.net/staffs/html/ranton.html Ranton Abbey]</ref> Ranton was dissolved by the [[Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535]] for dissolving the lesser monasteries.<ref name="VCH" />

Only the 14th–15th century tower and part of the south wall remain, although the cloisters and other parts are known to have still been standing in 1663.<ref name="VCH" /> Many important personages were buried in the abbey including Sir Thomas Harcourt, Knt., of Stanton Harcourt, who died 12 April 1417.<ref>''Plantagenet Ancestry'' by Douglas Richardson, Baltimore, Md., 2004, p.376.</ref> The ruins of [[Abbey House, Ranton|Abbey House]] stand adjacent.

Accord to Michael Raven (2004), Ranton Abbey:

:"was founded by Robert and Celestia Noel of [[Ellenhall]] about 1150 for Augustinian canons from Haughmond. In 1820 Thomas, 1st [[Earl of Lichfield]], built a large house, a hunting lodge or weekend retreat, adjacent to the abbey...all that remains of the abbey is the large imposing tower (of the 15th century) and a little of the nave wall with a [[Norman architecture|Norman]] doorway decorated with roll moulding. The house is now in ruins as it was accidentally burned down in 1942, during the [[Second World War]], when troops of [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands|Queen Wilhelmina]]'s bodyguard were quartered here."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hWTBe6Cx66YC&dq=ranton+abbey+tunnel&pg=PA253 Michael Raven, ''A Guide to Staffordshire and the Black Country''], 2004, {{ISBN|0-906114-33-0}}, pp.252-3</ref>

According to William White in his 1851 ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire'':

:[[File:Ranton Abbey House in Staffordshire.png|thumb|Ranton Abbey House in 1842 by [[John Buckler (artist)|John Buckler]].]][[File:Francis Grant (1803-1878) - A Shooting Party at Ranton Abbey, Staffordshire - 1271073 - National Trust.jpg|thumb|''[[A Shooting Party at Ranton Abbey]]'' by [[Francis Grant (artist)|Sir Francis Grant]], 1839]]"Ranton, or Ronton, is a small scattered village, five miles (8 km) W of Stafford, comprising within its parish the scattered hamlets of Extolls, Long Compton, Park Nook, and including 320 inhabitants, and about 2670 acres of land, belonging chiefly to the Earl of Lichfield, and Francis Eld, Esq, and the former is lord of the manor, which, at the time of the [[Norman Conquest]], was held by Goderick, a Saxon nobleman, and afterwards by the Noels and Harcourts. Swynfen Jones, Esq, and a few smaller owners have estates in the parish.

:About a mile W of the village is Ranton Abbey, an extra parochial liberty of 700 acres belonging to the Earl of Lichfield. The ancient abbey was founded by Robert Fitz-Noel, in the reign of Henry II, for regular canons of the order of St Augustine. Considerable remains of the abbey are still standing, including a lofty well-built tower, and the outer walls of the church. The abbey liberty contains 28 inhabitants and the Abbey House which is the seat of ED Moore, Esq."<ref>[http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/STS/Ranton/ ''History, Gazetteer and Directory of Staffordshire, William White, Sheffield, 1851'']</ref>

==See also== *[[Grade II* listed buildings in Stafford (borough)]] *[[Listed buildings in Ellenhall]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/leisure/archives/history/placeguide/SPGRantonAbbey.htm County Council page] *[http://www.thornber.net/staffs/html/ranton.html Photographs and history]

[[Category:Monasteries in Staffordshire]] [[Category:Augustinian monasteries in England]] [[Category:1150s establishments in England]] [[Category:Christian monasteries established in the 1150s]] [[Category:1537 disestablishments in England]]