Summary
Remains of an Augustinian priory, founded in the C12, surviving as a standing ruin, earthworks and buried deposits.
Reasons for Designation
Latton Priory, an Augustinian priory founded in the C12, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
Rarity:
* for the site of the monastic fair and its location, forming part of the outer precinct and formal approach to the priory, which is a very rare survival;
Documentation:
* for the historical records which date from its inception to the post-Dissolution period;
Group value:
* for the strong group value with the Grade II* listed ruined priory and the Grade II listed Latton Priory Farmhouse which provide a visual context and enhance the interpretation of the site;
Survival:
* for the standing, buried and earthwork remains which contribute to an understanding of the form, plan and architectural detail of the priory;
Diversity:
* for the large number of features within the site, notably the fair, the moated island, the church and claustral buildings, and the fishponds. The outer wards are particularly significant, as these are thought to have contained ancillary buildings, paddocks, gardens and cemeteries reflecting the economy of the community and their dealings with the secular world, and therefore separated from the religious life within the inner precinct;
Potential:
* for the stratified archaeological deposits which retain considerable potential to increase our understanding of the physical characteristics of the buildings and the evolution of the priory site. Such deposits harbour artefacts and information which, if scientifically analysed, will illuminate the social and economic functioning of the priory in the wider medieval landscape.
History
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. Some 225 of these religious houses belonged to the order of St Augustine. The Augustinians were not monks in the strict sense, but rather communities of canons - or priests - living under the rule of St Augustine. In England they came to be known as ‘black canons' because of their dark coloured robes and to distinguish them from the Cistercians who wore light clothing. From the C12 onwards, they undertook much valuable work in the parishes, running almshouses, schools and hospitals as well as maintaining and preaching in parish churches. It was from the churches that they derived much of their revenue. The Augustinians made a major contribution to many facets of medieval life and all of their monasteries which exhibit significant surviving archaeological remains are worthy of protection.
The date of Latton Priory’s foundation, along with the identity of its founder, is unknown, but it is likely that a priory has existed on the site since the late C12. The church of St John the Baptist and its attendant claustral buildings appear, from the remains of the priory church’s crossing, nave and transepts, to have been completely rebuilt in the early C14, and sat within a trapezoidal precinct defined on all four sides by a wet moat. The original community consisted of a prior and two canons and, although the priory later acquired over 440 acres of land together with the advowson of the parish church, the priors were often appointed by the Bishop of London as the canons numbered too few for proper elections. John Taylor, the last prior and the only remaining canon at the time of the Dissolution, abandoned the priory following an inquistion in 1534. In 1536 the property was confiscated by the Crown and granted to Sir Henry Parker. It is significant that the Priory was not dissolved and the church and claustral buildings were not converted to domestic use during the C16.
A detailed survey of Latton parish from 1616 shows that at this date much of the priory complex remained intact and the former priory church appeared to retain its three-stage tower and cruciform arrangement. The survey also shows that the moat had not been filled in and that the area south of the inner precinct was in use as an orchard. At the time of the 1616 survey, the priory estate was in the hands of Sir Edward Altham whose grandfather James Altham acquired it in 1552. The Althams held Latton Priory until 1778 and during the C18 were likely responsible for the first major alterations to the priory church and refectory. An account of about 1718 described how a farmhouse had been constructed into the standing remains of the refectory and that the priory church had been converted for use as a barn, likely indicating the period during which the majority of the nave was removed and the tower truncated. It is probable that the demolition of the presbytery and the construction of the barn was done by William Lushington, who owned Latton Priory between 1778 and 1786. The subsequent owners, the Glyns, were likely responsible for the final major phase of alterations to the priory church, which involved the construction of a barn to the south of the crossing following the partial collapse of the south transept.
An account of Latton Priory is included in the Victoria County History of Essex (1920), and it was surveyed by the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) during the preparation of Volume II of the Essex series (1921), which included a detailed description and drawn plan of the remains of the priory church. In 2016 Historic England carried out historical research and non-invasive archaeological investigation and survey. The major finding of this new research was the identification of a series of linear earthworks to the north of the scheduled area, as the site of an annual fair granted to the patron of the priory, Augustine La Waleys, by Edward III in 1332. The fair took place on the feast day of the decollation of St John the Baptist (the saint to whom the priory was dedicated). The triangular enclosure formed part of the eastern approach to the priory via Priorie Lane, with visitors required to pass through the enclosure before reaching the causeway across the moat into the priory precinct. Controlling access to the priory in this way would have allowed the collection of tolls during the annual fair. Depicted on the estate map of 1616 adjoining the priory precinct and labelled as the ‘Foreberry’, this enclosure is comparable to the ‘Forbury’ at Reading Abbey (Berkshire), the ‘Forbury’ at Leominster Priory (Herefordshire) and the ‘Bury’ at St Osyth’s Priory (Essex). Each were sites of fairs granted by the King to those houses. It is significant that at Latton the grant was made to the patron and not to the priory, likely providing Le Waleys with a way of recouping some of his investment and marking the date of the completion of the priory’s rebuilding in 1332.
Details
Remains of an Augustinian priory, founded in the C12, surviving as a standing ruin, earthworks and buried deposits.
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The site of the Augustinian priory of St John the Baptist, now Latton Priory Farm, includes the crossing of the church, which is the only monastic structure to survive as a standing building above ground, the buried remains of the church and conventual buildings, the moated island which served as the inner precinct and on which the claustral range originally stood, a series of enclosures representing outer wards to the south and east of the moat, a fishpond located to the south, and the site of an annual fair to the north.
DESCRIPTION
The monument is located to the south of Harlow, approximately 1km to the south west of junction 7 on the M11.
The moated island lies mainly to the south of the farm buildings and is trapezoidal in plan, measuring between 70m and 100m from east to west and between 70m and 80m north to south. The northern and eastern arms of the surrounding ditch have been infilled; the former is now covered by yard surfaces and modern outbuildings, and the latter is only visible as a slight depression in the adjacent pasture. To the south and west the ditch is water filled, measuring on average 10m in width and 2m deep.
The priory church, which was completely rebuilt in the C14 using flint rubble dressed with reused Roman brick and Reigate stone, stood towards the northern corner of the island. The crossing, listed at Grade II*, survives nearly to its full height, with archways on each side which lead into the transepts, nave and chancel. The north transept is represented by standing walls to the east and west. These are pierced by archways, now blocked, which provided access to the north aisle and to a chapel on the north side of the chancel. A piscina, with moulded and shafted jambs and a trefoiled head is mounted in the wall to the north of the chapel entrance. A section of east wall, with a diagonal buttress at the southern end, survives to mark the position of the south transept, which reportedly collapsed in 1806, and traces of a circular staircase can be seen in the external angle between its western wall and the nave. Short sections of the nave walls extend eastwards from the crossing for about 3.5m, retaining a blocked sexfoil circular window above the level of the north aisle roof, and a blocked processional doorway with moulded jambs in the south wall. The recent GPR (ground-penetrating radar) survey identified the foundations of the lost nave about 17.5m to the west of the truncated stub walls; and confirmed the presence of a structure adjoining the nave to the north, which is most likely a porticus or sacristy.
At the western end of the nave, the GPR survey also appeared to locate the intersection with the western range of the cloisters, with two walls turning 90 degrees to the south. This short section of foundations would imply the standard arrangement for the inner precinct of an Augustinian priory with the ‘cellarars’ range forming the western side of a square cloister.
The chancel, illustrated in 1778 prior to its collapse, is thought to have been of two bays. In its place stands a barn with a hipped roof dating from the late C17. A similar barn, of C19 construction, extends across the site of the south transept, and the north transept walls are sloped off, roofed, and sealed with weatherboarding. These later structures, together with the roof above the crossing and a modern extension in the north eastern angle, are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath them, and the medieval fabric to which they are attached, is included. The church is thought to have formed the northern arm of the claustral range which would have included a dormitory extending from the south transept, a cellarer's range to the east and a refectory to the south, completing a square surrounding the cloister garth.
During the earth resistance survey of the small lawned area south of the east barn, two features were identified which may represent a former floor surface and/ or a spread of demolition debris. In both cases, and given the location of the anomalies, it is likely that the small lawned area marks the location of a small chapter house. In most abbeys and priories, the chapter house - which formed the main meeting space for the brethren – formed part of the cloister’s eastern range, usually located to the south of, and on the same alignment as, the presbytery.
The present farmhouse, which is listed at Grade II, replaced an earlier house demolished in the late C18 and is thought to stand on the site of the refectory. Material similar to that used in the construction of the church was found beneath the south wall during the demolition of the earlier building.
South of the present farmhouse and former cloister, centrally located within the gardens (within the area enclosed by the moat), the south and east sides of a rectangular building platform have been identified. Any interpretation of such scant evidence is highly conjectural, but it is possible that a building in this location may have been the prior’s lodge, as the prior would have been provided with private accommodation as befitted his status. The depiction of the priory on the map of 1616 also shows a building extant to the south of the church and the frater, the location of which appears to match the location of the possible building platform.
The remainder of the island, to the south of the farmhouse, is fairly level and lacks surface evidence for the presence of ancillary buildings, although linear parchmarks representing the buried foundations of further structures were recorded by aerial photography in 1995. The south-eastern corner of the island contains a small fishpond, measuring approximately 30m by 10m and orientated with the southern arm of the moat. A larger fishpond, similarly aligned, lies outside the moat approximately 120m to the south. This feature is depicted on a map of the property dating from 1616, which also shows the small island located towards the eastern end. The area to the south of the moat is crossed by several shallow ditches which were last recorded from the air in 1995 prior to being infilled in the following year. These leats, some of which link with other partly infilled ditches to the east of the moat, form the boundaries of two outer enclosures, or wards.
The smaller ward forms a sub-rectangular enclosure extending approximately 90m beyond the southern arm of the moat, with the larger fishpond at its south western corner. In the early C17 this enclosure lay within a larger area termed ‘Grave feild' (sic) and, as human bones were reportedly unearthed here in the C18, it may have surrounded a lay cemetery administered by the priory. The canons' cemetery would, according to the doctrines of the order, have been placed near the chancel of the priory church. The second ward represents a separate phase of development during which a larger area to the south and east of the moat was enclosed. The boundary ditch extends south across the interior of the smaller ward for some 70m, following the same alignment as the western arm of the moat. It then turns to the north-east, crossing the eastern arm of the smaller enclosure before turning to the north and running parallel to, and approximately 30m from, the eastern arm.
The 1616 map shows a small paddock or orchard to the south of the moat defined by a combination of boundary ditches from both wards, which must therefore pre-date its existence. A slight terrace, perhaps formed by upcast from the construction or periodic cleaning of the moat, lies between the eastern boundary of the larger ward and the eastern arm of the moat. This area, termed ‘the monks' bowling green' in the late C18, may originally have served as a vegetable or herb garden. The adjacent ditch continues to join a broad hollow way which extends across the northern edge of the pasture from east to west. This route is thought to represent the original approach to the priory leading towards the entrance to the moat which is shown as a causeway across the centre of the northern arm on the 1616 map. A short section of the hollow way approximately 30m in length is included in the scheduling as a sample of the route and in order to protect its archaeological relationship with the enclosure ditch.
MEDIEVAL FAIR SITE
Immediately to the north of the Priory are the slight earthwork traces of an elongated wedge-shaped area which is now partially obscured by the modern farm buildings on the northern edge of the farm. Centred at TL 4665 0660, it measures about 275m east-west and 30m wide (though likely to have been at least 45m north-south at its widest point). Marked as the ‘Foreberry’ on the 1616 estate map, this is likely the site of an annual fair granted by Edward III in 1332. The site of the likely medieval fair, forming part of the outer precinct and formal approach to the priory, is a very rare survival, and is included in the scheduled area.
Historic RAF photographs and recent lidar show several broad lanes leading out of the eastern and western sides of the ‘Foreberry’. The eastern arm (known as Pryorie Lane) extends eastwards about 480m towards the junction with the main B1393 - ‘The Way from Epping (1616)’. At the western end of the Foreberry the track extends northwards, probably heading in the direction of Harlow, following the suggested course of a Roman road. The scheduled area includes a short section of the road extending eastwards from the Foreberry.
In the eastern part of the scheduled area, linear earthworks run north-east to south-west linking the eastern end of the fair site with the south-east corner of the outer ward.
EXCLUSIONS
In addition to the roofs and later structures attached to the crossing of the church, the following items are excluded from the scheduling; all standing buildings and walls (apart from the church walls), the surfaces of all paths and yards, all fences, fenceposts and gates, and all other modern features and fittings. The ground beneath all these features is, however, included.
