Editing Gisborough Priory (section)

==History==

===Establishment===

Guisborough was well-established at the time of the priory's founding; the town's name refers to the fortified place of a Scandinavian called Gigr, who may have taken over a site established by the [[Anglo-Saxons]] or [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] who lived in the vicinity before the arrival of [[Vikings]] in the 8th and 9th centuries.<ref>{{cite book|title=Guisborough before 1900|last1=Harrison|first1=B.&nbsp;J.&nbsp;D.|last2=Dixon|first2=Grace|publisher=G. Dixon|year=1981|isbn=095078270X}}</ref> A priest, church and mill were recorded in 1086 in the ''[[Domesday Book]]'' which refers to the town as "Ghigesburg". Following the [[Norman Conquest]], [[William the Conqueror]] gave lands in the area to the [[Count of Mortain]]. He passed them to his friend Robert de Brus, Lord of [[Skelton-in-Cleveland|Skelton]], one of the largest landowners in the north, owning more than {{convert|40000|acre|km2}} in [[Yorkshire]] alone.<ref name="Whellan187">{{harvnb|Whellan|1859|page=187}}</ref> William's [[Harrying of the North]] left the region in a severely depressed and depopulated state. There were few monasteries north of the [[River Humber]] and opportunities existed for new agricultural and religious developments.<ref name="Coppack21">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=21}}</ref> The Augustinian order came to England at the start of the 12th century and established houses in England, including major ones at [[Bridlington]], [[Nostell]] and [[Kirkham, North Yorkshire|Kirkham]].<ref name="Coppack20">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=20}}</ref> They were communities of [[Canon (priest)|canons]] living under the rule of [[Augustine of Hippo|St. Augustine]], wearing dark robes that earned them the name the "Black Canons".<ref name="NHL" />

According to the priory's founding charter, Robert de Brus "founded a certain Monastery of a religious order in Gysburne {{sic}}, to the honour of God, and the holy Virgin Mary". He gave "to the same Church and the service of God in it, all Gysburne, with all things pertaining thereto it".<ref name="Ord176">{{harvnb|Ord|1846|page=176}}</ref> The gift included lands amounting to twenty [[carucate]]s and two [[oxgang]]s (roughly equivalent to about {{convert|2500|acre|km2}}), churches, mills and other possessions, and grants from others. The charter started that the endowment was to provide "material for ever for their buildings, and all other necessities of their house".<ref name="Ord177">{{harvnb|Ord|1846|page=177}}</ref> The foundation was authorised by Pope [[Calixtus II]] and [[Thurstan]], [[Archbishop of York]]. De Brus may have been emulating his peers in Yorkshire, who had founded monastic institutions for their religious obligations.<ref name="Blakely122">{{harvnb|Blakely|2005|page=122}}</ref> The date of the foundation is unclear. The 14th-century canon and historian [[Walter of Guisborough]] gives it as 1129, but a charter of confirmation from Pope Calixtus dates to the period of his pontificate between 1119–24.<ref name="Coppack21" /> The priory may have had two foundation charters, a shorter one dating possibly to 1119 and a detailed one dating to 1129 that may have been the definitive document.<ref name="Coppack21" /> Robert de Brus appointed his younger brother, William de Brus, to be the first Prior of Gisborough and the Brus family continued to be the primary patrons of the priory and have a strong influence there.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/gisborough-priory/history/ | title=History of Gisborough Priory | accessdate=27 May 2022}}</ref>

[[File:Gisborough Priory seal.jpg|right|thumb|Chapter seal of Gisborough Priory, 1538. The seal depicts the Virgin Mary with the infant Christ, sitting under a canopy in the shape of a church.]]
The rights and privileges of the prior and canons grew over the centuries added to by royal grants. [[Henry III of England|Henry III]] granted the rights of [[Soke (legal)|soc and sac]], [[thol and theam]] and [[infangtheof]]. He established a Monday market at Guisborough and the right to hold an annual three-day fair to mark the [[Assumption of Mary|feast of the Assumption]] (15 August). The proceeds and fees from these events supported the priory. The prior and canons were granted [[Warren (free)|free warren]] in the lands around Guisborough and several nearby villages which was extended to more [[demesne]]s by [[Edward III of England|Edward III]], who permitted them to convert {{convert|80|acre|m2}} of land into a deer park (now Park Wood). [[Henry IV of England|Henry IV]] gave them the twice-yearly right of [[frankpledge]], the right of [[waif and stray]] and the return of briefs and writs which gave the priory a steady income from rents, fines, licences and other fees. The canons of Guisborough owned 4,000 sheep, mostly in [[Eskdale, North Yorkshire|Eskdale]], in the 13th and 14th century.<ref name="Blakely167">{{harvnb|Blakely|2005|page=167}}</ref>

The priory became known for its strict observance of the Augustinian rule and religious precepts. Its reputation for ''ducentes canonicam vitam'' ("living a canonical life") attracted [[Saint Malachy]] from Ireland who, as Saint [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] had a long and close involvement with Gisborough.<ref name="Watt">{{harvnb|Watt|2005|page=26}}</ref><ref name="Flanagan">{{harvnb|Flanagan|2010|page=122}}</ref> The canons were closely associated with the [[Cistercians]] who, like the Augustianians, had a reformist outlook. One Gisborough canon, William of Newminster, moved to the Cistercian [[Fountains Abbey]] to become its abbot.<ref name="Coppack23">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=23}}</ref> The priory was supported by the local people and records survive of numerous small grants, related to the [[almonry]] (the place or chamber where [[alms]] were distributed to the poor) and to support building work. The canons leased, bought and sold land and loaned money using property grants as collateral to benefit the priory's building fund.<ref name="Coppack25">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=25}}</ref> As the priory became more wealthy, discipline among its canons slipped and the Archbishops of York found it necessary to take corrective action in the late 13th century. A number of canons were sent to Kirkham and Bridlington for correction and Gisborough in turn took in disobedient canons from other places.<ref name="Coppack26">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=26}}</ref> The priory also became embroiled in a dispute with a local landowner, [[Robert de Thweng]], who raided its properties and [[tithe barn]]s in 1232 under the alias of "Will Wither", in the course of a dispute with the priory over the advowson of [[Kirkleatham]] parish church.<ref name="Tees">{{cite web
|url=http://www.teesarchaeology.com/downloads/documents/Medieval_Booklet.pdf
|date=11 June 2012
|title= Medieval Teesside
|publisher=Tees Archaeology
|access-date=10 August 2015}}</ref>

On 16 May 1289, the priory suffered a catastrophic fire. According to an account by Walter of Guisborough, a plumber soldering the lead roof forgot to put out his fire, causing the roof timbers to catch fire and molten lead ran down into the church below. Much of the building was destroyed and many effects, costly books, chalices and vestments were lost. The canons sought to raise funds for rebuilding. They petitioned the king to grant them the [[advowson]]s of the parish churches of [[Barnham, Suffolk|Barnham]], [[Easington, East Riding of Yorkshire|Easington]] and [[Heslerton]], and in 1309 and 1311 the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Durham rewarded the priory's donors with [[indulgence]]s granting remission of temporal punishment for sins.<ref name="Coppack27">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=27}}</ref> Most of the [[nave]] and [[chancel]] was rebuilt with the support of the de Brus family, whose coat of arms was displayed on its buildings.<ref name="Greene99">{{harvnb|Greene|2005|page=99}}</ref>

Rebuilding probably took around a century to complete. Work was slowed by high costs and civil unrest in the early 14th century, when Scottish raiders repeatedly plundered the north of England. The priory's lands were reduced in value by the raids, diminishing its income.<ref name="Macmillan">{{harvnb|Macmillan|2007|page=x}}</ref> Its wealth was tapped by [[William Melton|Archbishop Melton of York]] to make good his own losses in 1319, and in 1320 it had to take in refugees from monastic houses that had been forced to disperse to escape the raiders.<ref name="Leyland38">{{harvnb|Leyland|1892|page=38}}</ref> Probably as a consequence of the troubles, in 1328 the priory petitioned the king to be exempted from the "clerical tenth" (a 10% tax on clerical property) and in 1344 it was granted permission to fortify its buildings. By 1380 its staff had diminished to 26 canons and two lay brothers.<ref name="Butler238">{{harvnb|Butler|Given-Wilson|1979|page=238}}</ref>

The Yorkshire line of the de Brus family died out with the death of the childless Peter IV de Brus in 1272 but the priory was still patronised by the local nobility. The [[Baron Fauconberg|Fauconberg]] and Thweng families, who married Peter's sisters Agnes and Lucia, took over the patronage which continued for several centuries. Many prominent local nobles were buried there, as was the Scottish [[Robert de Brus, 5th Lord of Annandale|Robert V de Brus]], grandfather of King Robert the Bruce. At least nine patrons and their families were buried in the priory between 1295 and 1411.<ref name="Stöber128-29">{{harvnb|Stöber|2007|page=128–29}}</ref> The priory received substantial financial support from its patrons; in 1381 [[William Latimer, 4th Baron Latimer|William, Lord Latimer]] provided funds to complete the north nave and donated £333&nbsp;6s&nbsp;8d (roughly equivalent to £1.6&nbsp;million today) for a new [[bell tower|belfry]]. He left the priory cattle from his manor at [[Ugthorpe]], bequeathed a range of religious items, and made arrangements for his body to be interred there on his death.<ref name="Stöber90-91">{{harvnb|Stöber|2007|page=90–91}}</ref>

===Dissolution and after===
[[File:Prior Robert Pursglove.jpg|right|thumb|Prior [[Robert Pursglove]], the last prior of Gisborough Priory]]
In 1533 [[Henry VIII of England]] was excommunicated for divorcing [[Catherine of Aragon]]. The [[Act of Supremacy]] passed in 1534 declared Henry [[Supreme Head of the Church of England]] and the church's estate in England became part of the king's estate. In 1535 Henry ordered a comprehensive survey of the church's property, the ''[[Valor Ecclesiasticus]]''. It found that Gisborough Priory had an annual net value of £628.6s.8d., which made it the fourth wealthiest monastic house in Yorkshire. In 1536 monasteries with less than £200 of annual income were suppressed, exempting the priory from the first wave of suppression.<ref name="Coppack27" />

A second survey carried out by the king's commissioners, Thomas Legh and Richard Leyton, provided for the final suppression on charges of a lack of quality of religious life.<ref name="Coppack29">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=29}}</ref> Prior James Cockerell of Guisborough was forced to resign and was replaced by [[Robert Pursglove]], who was loyal to the king. The priory's dissolution was not welcomed by locals, who derived economic benefit from its presence – in 1536, around 500 families depended on it for their livelihood.<ref name="Coppack30">{{harvnb|Coppack|1993|page=30}}</ref> The strength of feeling was recorded in a letter from Lord Conyers and Sir John Bulmer to [[Thomas Cromwell]]: "On Sunday, 11th&nbsp; July [1539], at Gysburn in Yorkshire, when the parish priest was declaring the articles [of dissolution] directed by the King to the Archbishop of York, one John Atkeynson ''alias'' Brotton came violently and took book forth of the priest's hands, and pulled it in pieces."<ref name="Davison77">{{harvnb|Davison|2007|page=7}}</ref> Popular discontent sparked the [[Pilgrimage of Grace]], in which Prior Cockerell was implicated. When the revolt failed, he was hanged at [[Tyburn]] in London with the Prior of Bridlington, the Abbot of [[Jervaulx]] and the former Abbot of Fountains.<ref name="Coppack30" />

The priory was formally dissolved on 8 April 1540 and surrendered to the king's men on 22 December 1540, making it one of the last monastic houses in England to be suppressed.<ref name="Coppack30"/> A proposal to found a secular college there came to nothing and the priory buildings – with the exception of the gatehouses and the great east window – were demolished. On 21 November 1541 Thomas Legh was granted a lease "of the buildings with the site and precincts of the Priory to be then demolished and carried away."<ref name="Proceedings" /> Demolition was carried out by collapsing its central tower into the body of the church, crushing it in its fall and reducing it to rubble.<ref name="Proceedings">{{cite journal|title=Proceedings at Meetings of the Royal Archaeological Institute|journal=[[The Archaeological Journal]]|date=3 June 1868|volume=25|pages=247–49|publisher=British Archaeological Association, Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland}}</ref>

The site and lands were re-let in 1550 to Sir [[Thomas Chaloner (statesman)|Thomas Chaloner]], who later purchased the property outright.<ref name="Proceedings" /> The Chaloners occupied the former priors' quarters in the west range before moving to their new mansion, Old Gisborough Hall, on Bow Street in the late-17th century. The priory remains were cleared and the fallen stonework looted or sold. The grounds were redeveloped as formal gardens within the grounds of Old Gisborough Hall.<ref name="Coppack30" /> John Walker Ord, a local historian in the mid-19th century, described how the priory's stonework could be seen in many buildings around Guisborough. He deplored the profane uses to which it had been put:

{{blockquote|I have seen with my own eyes broken pillars and pedestals of this august pile desecrated to the vile uses of gateposts, stands for rainwater casks, and stepping-stones over a common sewer. A richly ornamented doorway of the venerable priory forms the entrance to a privy. I have beheld with sorrow, shame, and indignation, the richly ornamented columns and carved architraves of God's temple supporting the thatch of a pig-house.<ref name="Ord197">{{harvnb|Ord|1846|page=197}}</ref>}}

Some fragments of the priory travelled further afield. At [[Hardwick Hall Country Park|Hardwick Hall]] near [[Sedgefield]], a mock ruin was built incorporating sculptured stones brought from the priory.<ref name="Parson">{{harvnb|Parson|White|1828|page=316}}</ref> The priory's wealth became the stuff of local legends, one of which claimed an underground passage led from the priory to a cave under the hills in which a raven stood guard over a chest of gold.<ref name="Murray" />

The priory's lands around Guisborough were a source of wealth for the Chaloners. Around 1595, [[Thomas Chaloner (courtier)|Sir Thomas Chaloner's son]], also called Thomas, established England's first [[alum]] works at Belman Bank south of the town. Alum was an important product with a variety of industrial uses. It was especially important to the cloth industry as a [[mordant]] (a substance used to fix dyes on cloth).<ref name="BBC">{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/northyorkshire/content/articles/2005/07/21/coast05walks_stageseven.shtml|title=North Yorkshire – Coast – Point 7 – Alum|publisher=BBC |date=29 September 2006|access-date=30 July 2011}}</ref> The supply of alum was controlled by a cartel controlled by the [[Papal States]] and Spain which were in conflict with England and exercised a virtual monopoly on the provision of alum to Christian Europe, as the import of cheaper Turkish alum was banned by [[Pope Paul II]] in the mid-15th century.<ref>{{harvnb|de Roover|1999|pp=153–55}}</ref> Chaloner visited the Pope's alum works at [[Tolfa]] near Rome and noticed the soil and vegetation around them resembled those of his estate at Guisborough. On his return he established alum works at Belman Bank with the aid of workmen smuggled from Rome, earning him a papal excommunication.<ref name="Murray">{{harvnb|Murray|1867|page=195}}</ref> John Walker Ord casts doubt on the story, noting an account published a few decades afterwards stated that the workmen came from France and does not mention Chaloner's travels in Italy.<ref name="Ord79-80">{{harvnb|Ord|1846|pp=79–80}}</ref>

[[File:Remains of Gisborough Priory 1709 print.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|left|Print from 1709 showing the remains of the priory in the background, and how its land was used after the [[Dissolution of the Monasteries|Dissolution]]. Old Gisborough Hall can be seen in the right foreground.]]
The only substantial part of the priory to survive was the eastern gable of the presbytery with its great east window. Its survival owed much to the rise of [[Romanticism]] in the 18th century. The portrayal of ruined buildings in idealised landscapes by {{no break|[[J. M. W. Turner]]}} and his contemporaries inspired a fashion for the nobility and gentry to produce paintings of monasteries providing an incentive for landowners to preserve them as romantic ruins, rather than using them as quarries. Gisborough Priory's east window was one of the first examples of a monastic ruin to be retained for its visual qualities. It was incorporated into the grounds of Old Gisborough Hall as a romantic ruin and the sill of the great window removed to ensure an uninterrupted view.<ref name="Macmillan" /><ref name="Greene202">{{harvnb|Greene|2005|page=202}}</ref> Fittingly, given his role in inspiring the east window's preservation, Turner himself sketched it in 1801 during a visit to Yorkshire.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-guisborough-priory-tw0288|title=Joseph Mallord William Turner - Guisborough Priory 1801|publisher=Tate Gallery|access-date=2 July 2014}}</ref>

East Lawn was laid out in front of the east window and was used for grand bazaars and fêtes until the early 20th century. A [[ha-ha]] was installed behind to keep cattle out of the grounds.<ref name="Darnton52">{{harvnb|Darnton|2004|page=52}}</ref> To the south of the priory buildings the Long Terrace ran almost the full length of the grounds. It afforded access to the ruins via a flight of steps flanked by two carved demi-sea wolves, reflecting the coat of arms of the Chaloners. They were thought to be dragons by local people and the steps were referred to as the Dragon Steps.<ref name="Darnton48">{{harvnb|Darnton|2004|page=48}}</ref>

Old Gisborough Hall was demolished around 1825 and the Chaloners built a mansion house, [[Gisborough Hall]], about half a mile to the east in 1857.<ref name="Coppack30" /> In 1932, [[Thomas Chaloner, 2nd Baron Gisborough]] transferred control of the priory to the [[Office of Works]]. which became the responsibility of the [[Ministry of Works (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Works]], then the [[Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs|Department of the Environment]] and from 1984, [[English Heritage]].<ref name="Coppack30" /><ref name="CCAS" /> It remains the property of Lord Gisborough; English Heritage is responsible for maintaining the ruins, while day-to-day running is managed by Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council.<ref>{{cite news|title=Priory wall wrecked by vandals|work=Durham County Publications|date=29 June 2001}}</ref>

According to folklore, the priory is haunted by the ghost of a monk in a black habit who returns annually to check that its buried treasure has not been disturbed. He is said to arrive at midnight on the year's first new moon to lower a ghostly drawbridge spanning a vanished moat. In 1966 and 1967 a hundred people turned out to watch and allegedly managed to spot a cowled figure, but in 1968 the few spectators who turned up saw nothing.<ref name="Walker">{{harvnb|Walker|1990|page=70}}</ref><ref name="Christian">{{harvnb|Christian|1972|page=91}}</ref>