Reasons for Designation
From the time of St Augustine's mission to re-establish Christianity in AD 597
to the reign of Henry VIII, monasticism formed an important facet of both
religious and secular life in the British Isles. Settlements of religious
communities, including monasteries, were built to house communities of monks,
canons (priests), and sometimes lay brothers, living a common life of
religious observance under some form of systematic discipline. It is estimated
from documentary evidence that over 700 monasteries were founded in England.
These ranged in size from major communities with several hundred members to
tiny establishments with a handful of brethren. They belonged to a wide
variety of different religious orders, each with its own philosophy. As a
result, they vary considerably in the detail of their appearance and layout,
although all possess the basic elements of church, domestic accommodation for
the community, and work buildings. Monasteries were inextricably woven into
the fabric of medieval society, acting not only as centres of worship,
learning, and charity, but also, because of the vast landholdings of some
orders, as centres of immense wealth and political influence. They were
established in all parts of England, some in towns and others in the remotest
of areas. Many monasteries acted as the foci of wide networks including parish
churches, almshouses, hospitals farming estates and tenant villages. The
Gilbertine order, thought to have been the only order to originate in England,
was initially established for men and women. The founder, St Gilbert of
Sempringham, founded double houses from 1131 until his death in 1189. After
this time the houses founded were mainly for canons. Of the total of 29
Gilbertine foundations, 16 were for men. The order originated in Lincolnshire
and most of the houses were established in that county, although others were
established throughout eastern England. Small numbers of Gilbertine canons
sometimes served hospitals, and at Old Malton, Yorkshire, a training and
retreat house was established. As a rare type of monastery, all examples
retaining significant remains of medieval date are worthy of protection.
Watton priory is an important example of a wealthy Gilbertine monastery and
was one of the most important monasteries of the order. This is indicated by
the scale of the monastic precinct and also the scale and quality of its
buildings. In addition to the standing medieval buildings extensive earthwork
remains indicate the position and extent of other buildings. The functions of
some of these buildings have also been confirmed by excavation, which also
confirmed that considerable information on their style and architectural
detail survives.
Unusually the monastic precinct was largely abandoned following the
Dissolution and was robbed for building stone. It remains largely unencumbered
by later buildings, a factor which has contributed to the good survival of
below ground medieval remains.
The survival of the wider monastic precinct with its complex of water
management features is also unusual. These remains will retain considerable
information on the range of activities, religious and industrial, which were
occurring within the precinct and which helped support the monastic precinct.
Watton Priory also retains information on the pre-Conquest nunnery of Vetadun,
known from the works of Bede, which is believed to have been situated here.
Details
The site of the Gilbertine priory at Watton is situated in the Hull valley.
Its name, meaning `settlement by the water', indicates its former watery
situation. It is the second monastic house to have been established at
Watton, the first being the Anglo-Saxon nunnery of Vetadun mentioned in the
works of the Anglo-Saxon historian Bede.
The monument comprises a single area in which the majority of the monastic
precinct lies, including the remains of the church, nuns' and canons'
cloisters and other key monastic buildings, water-management features and
fishponds. Two priory buildings, the prior's lodging and another building
often described as a barn, remain standing. Extensive earthwork remains are
visible across the site and indicate the extent and arrangement of the wider
precinct.
The core of the priory, in which area the church and attached buildings were
situated, lay toward the southern end of the site and immediately to the north
of the prior's lodging. The complex of buildings is orientated east-west and
takes the form of two separate four-sided ranges of buildings known as
cloisters, one for the nuns and the other for the male canons, connected by a
passage. The plan of this complex was exposed by excavation in the late 19th
century. The priory church lay to the west of the prior's lodging. The nun's
cloister was built against its north side. Inside the church a wall ran along
the spine of the building, creating two separate areas, ensuring that contact
between nuns and canons was restricted even during the religious services. A
chapel formed the south range of the canons' cloister which lay to the east of
the nuns' cloister. A rectangular chapter house is situated in the eastern
range of both cloisters. These chapter houses were the official meeting place
where the nuns and canons met in council. The north range of both cloisters
was formed by a frater, or dining room. A guest house formed the west range
of the nuns' cloister, a hall formed this range of the canons' cloister. The
area between the cloisters included the priory cemetery and a granary.
These buildings lay at the heart of a large monastic precinct largely defined
by moat-like drainage ditches. The area thus defined is roughly 22 ha in
extent. The ditches are between 5m and 6m wide and up to 2m deep. Access to
the monument is now from the south although the original point of entry to the
precinct is currently unknown. An embanked trackway runs from north to south
along the eastern boundary of the precinct although it is not clear whether
this is a product of later farming activity, or whether it relates to original
access points to the precinct.
The large precinct was subdivided into several smaller enclosures. The main
monastic buildings described above lay within an inner precinct surrounded by
a series of outer courts or enclosures. The boundaries between these
enclosures were formed by an extensive series of drainage ditches. These
are visible throughout the precinct and vary between 2m and 10m wide and are
up to 2m deep. Although much silted, most ditches remain waterlogged and some
retain running water. These ditches served not only to define various
enclosures, but also, along with the ditches defining the boundaries of the
site, to supply water to those parts of the precinct where it was needed and
to drain it from areas where it was not. The water-management features
ultimately drain into Watton Beck which forms the southern boundary of the
precinct.
There are a number of fishponds which would have been used to rear the fish
which formed an important element of the medieval monastic diet. Two heavily
silted ponds 30m long, north-south, and 10m wide lie south of the claustral
buildings. North east of the claustral buildings is a slightly curved
fishpond. It is 67m long, north-south, up to 36m wide and 1.75m deep and is
connected to drainage features to the south and east by short, silted
channels. A fourth, waterlogged pond lies further north. It is 60m long, 18m
wide and 1.5m deep. It has has been partially recut in recent years as a farm
pond. This pond lies on the southern boundary of an embanked enclosure 200m
square.
This enclosure is full of ridge and furrow, evidence that it served an
agricultural purpose. Further evidence of agricultural use of outer
enclosures is seen to the north and east of the core buildings.
Two buildings with medieval origins still stand within the site: the medieval
prior's lodging, which comprises part of the modern Abbey House, and a
building usually identified as a barn. The prior's lodging is a Grade I Listed
Building and is excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath it,
including a culverted medieval drain with which the building was connected, is
included. Since the Dissolution of the priory this building has been enlarged
to create a farmhouse. The barn is a derelict, two storey, brick building
orientated east-west. Its original function remains unknown, though the
culverting of a water-course beneath its eastern end suggests it was a major
building which perhaps required access to water from the drain. One
possibility is that it was an outlying dormitory building. This building was
converted to a barn following the Dissolution. It is Listed at Grade II*.
Two earth mounds known as Butt Hills are located to the east of the prior's
lodging. One mound stands north east of the lodging and is 11m in diameter
and 3m high. The second mound lies further south and has been incorporated
into the garden wall. The name Butt Hills suggests that these features were
associated with the practise of archery.
Antiquarian accounts record that the house was fortified by Royalist troops
during the English Civil War (1642-46) and local tradition reports the
discovery of swords and cannon balls. The south wall of the garden is supposed
to have been raised at this time; it is built from reused monastic stone and
has an earth bank 10m wide and 2.5m high thrown up against it. This wall
encloses the southern Butt Hill, thereby forming a circular corner tower.
Earthwork remains of a mill mound and of possible water management features
lie to the south and east of the monument. They cannot, currently, be
positively identified as components of the priory and hence are not included
in the scheduling.
The Anglo-Saxon nunnery of Vetadun was founded c.AD 686 and was probably
abandoned in the ninth century in the face of raids by Scandinavian Vikings.
It is mentioned in the works of the historian Bede in connection with St John
of Beverley who visited the site c.AD 705. The exact location of this nunnery
has yet to be confirmed. However elsewhere later monastic sites were
established on the sites of pre-Conquest establishments. There is a strong
probability, therefore, that the site of the Anglo-Saxon nunnery underlies the
medieval priory.
The Gilbertine priory at Watton was founded c.1150 by Eustace FitzJohn as
a penance for fighting for the Scots against the English. The priory, which
was dedicated to St Mary, went on to become one of the most prosperous
Gilbertine houses. There were 53 nuns at Watton in 1326 and 61 in 1378. In
1539, when the priory was dissolved, there were 9 canons and 12 nuns. Several
of the canons were accused of complicity in the 1536 revolt against the
Dissolution, the Pilgrimage of Grace.
The priory was partially excavated between 1894 and 1898 by W St John Hope.
These excavations did little more than reveal the plan of the claustral
arrangement.
The prior's lodging, garages north east of the lodging and the modern farm
buildings at the east end of the barn are excluded from the scheduling though
the ground beneath them is included. The barn remains scheduled.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
