Site details: Cardigan - Monastic Wales - A Comprehensive Database of Sites and Sources


Home Project team Future plans Contact us Search the database Browse list of sites Browse list of orders Browse bibliography & archives Browse people Browse articles Glossary of terms Monastic Wales is not responsible for the content of external internet sites	Display site: Cardigan (Priory) also known as: Cardigan Order: Benedictine Cardigan was founded by Gilbert fitz Richard, earl of Clare, who seemingly granted the church of the Holy Trinity,Cardigan subsequently became a dependency of Chertsey Abbey (Surrey) and finally of Bisham Priory. On the eve of the Dissolution the priory was a centre of pilgimage, famed for the Burning Taper of Our Lady. Cardigan, to the monks of St Peter's, Gloucester. show more... [Standing remains] Following its suppression the claustral buildings were converted into a mansion and in 1922 opened as Cardigan District and Memorial Hospital. The church served the parish and whilst this was extensively rebuilt some medieval stonework survives and also a late fifteenth-century tower. Dedicated to: Holy Trinity; Virgin Mary Medieval Diocese: St David's Affiliated to: St Peter's, Gloucester (mother-house); Chertsey Abbey (mother-house); Bisham Priory (mother-house) Lordship at foundation: Ceredigion Access: Site occupied by the present Parish Church and Cardigan District and Memorial Hospital Owned by: Representative Body of the Church in Wales Main events in the history of this site c.1115: Foundation - Gilbert fitz Richard, earl of Clare (d. 1115), seemingly granted the church of the Holy Trinity at Cardigan to the monks of St Peter’s, Gloucester, c. 1110x1115. [1 source] c.1165: Change of affiliation - By this time ownership of Cardigan had passed from Gloucester to Chertsey Abbey, Surrey. [1 source] c.1291: Wealth - At this time Cardigan held 240 acres of arable. [2 sources] 1322: Custody - By the fourteenth century Cardigan was impoverished, a consequence of warfare, ‘scarcity and other such matters', and was accordingly taken into royal custody. [1 source] 1534: Act of Supremacy - Prior Thomas Hore acknowledged royal supremacy. [3 sources] c.1535: Wealth - According to the Valor Ecclesiasticus the priory’s gross income was £32. [2 sources][1 archive] 1537 (December): Affiliation - Cardigan Priory was granted to Bisham Priory, Berkshire, a former Augustinian house which had just been re-founded as a Benedictine monastery. [2 sources] pre 1538: Pilgrim centre - On the eve of the Dissolution Cardigan Priory was a popular pilgrimage centre. [2 sources][1 archive] 1538: Dissolution - Cardigan was dissolved with its mother-house (Bisham) on 26 June 1538. At this time there were two monks. [3 sources] 1540 (February) : Ownership - Following its suppression Cardigan was granted to William Cavendish and his wife, Margaret, for £769 8s 4d and duly converted into a mansion. [1 source] 1922: Conversion - The former priory opened as Cardigan District and Memorial Hospital. + 9 minor events. Show minor events People associated with this site Gilbert fitz Richard; Gilbert de Clare; Gilbert of Tonbridge; Gilbert fitz Richard , Earl of Clare (founder) Priors of Cardigan Rhys ap Gruffydd , prince of Deheubarth (supporter) Bibliographical sources 16 Printed sources show sources 'The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales I, 940-1216' ed.David Knowles, Christopher Brooke and Vera London(London 1972; 2001) p. 87 'The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales III, 1377-1540' ed.David M. Smith(Cambridge 2008) pp. 21, 102 'The Heads of Religious Houses in England and Wales II, 1216-1377' ed.David M. Smith and Vera London(Cambridge 2001) p. 95 'A Register of the Churches of the Monastery of St Peter's Gloucester' An Ecclesiastical Miscellany Pub. Of the Bristol and Glos Arch. Soc., Records Section 11 ed.David Walker, William J. Sheils, John Henry Somerset Kent(1976) pp.3-61 'Medieval Religious Houses, England and Wales' ed.R. Neville Hadcock and David Knowles(Harlow 1971) pp. 53, 62 'Monasticon Anglicanum: a History of the Abbies and other Monasteries, Hospitals, Frieries, and Cathedral and Collegiate Churches, with their Dependencies, in England and Wales' 6 in 8 vols ed.Sir William Dugdale, rev. J. Caley, H. Ellis, B. Bandinel(London 1817-1830) vol. 4, pp. 584-5 'Historia and Chartularium Monasterii Sancti Petri Gloucestria' Rolls Series 33 3 vols ed.W. H. Hart(London 1863-1867) Cowley, F. G., 'The Monastic Order in South Wales 1066-1349' (Cardiff 1977) Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), 'Gerald of Wales, The Journey Through Wales / The Description of Wales' (Harmondsworth 1978) Hallam, E. M., 'Henry VIII's religious foundations of 1536-7 and the course of the dissolution' Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 51 (1978) pp.124-131 Heale, Martin, 'The Dependent Priories of Medieval English Monasteries' Studies in the History of Medieval Religion 22 (Woodbridge 2004) Lloyd, J.; Orbach, J.; and Scourfield, R., 'The Buildings of Wales: Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion' (London and New Haven 2006) pp. 446-7 Malden, Henry Elliot, 'The possession of the Cardigan Priory by Chertsey Abbey : a study in some mediaeval forgeries' Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 3 5 (1911) pp.141-156 Pritchard, Emily M., 'Cardigan Priory' (Olwen Powys 1904) Rex, R. and Armstrong, C. D. C., 'Henry VIII’s ecclesiastical and collegiate foundations' Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 75 (2002) pp. 395-398 Smallwood, T. M., 'The date of the Gough Map' Imago Mundi 62 (2010) pp.3–29 6 On-line sources show online sources (all open in new window) Hanes Llandoch - Cardigan Priory (View website) Dugdale, Monasticon online - Cardigan Priory (View website) St Mary's Church, Cardigan (Coflein database) (View website) Mortimer, Richard, Oxford Dictionary of National biography online - Gilbert Fitz Richard / de Clare (View website) (Subscription reqd.) Pritchard, Emily, Online book - Cardigan Priory in the Olden Days (View website) Rev Silas Harris, Brief history of Cardigan Priory (View website) Related articles on Monastic Wales Who were the Benedictines?, Professor Janet Burton Images of this site Priory Church of St Mary, Cardigan Shrine chapel, priory church of St Mary, Cardigan	Priory Church of St Mary, Cardigan Ceredigion, OS Grid:SN1810246043 View site details on COFLEIN (RCAHMW database)[new window]

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