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.
Benedictine monasticism had its roots in the rule written about AD 530 by St
Benedict of Nursia for his own abbey at Monte Cassino. Benedict had not
intended to establish an order of monasteries and wider adoption of his rule
came only gradually. The first real attempt to form a Benedictine order came
only in 1216. The Benedictine monks, who wore dark robes, came to be known as
`black monks'. These dark robes distinguished them from Cistercian monks who
became known as `white monks' on account of their light coloured robes. Over
150 Benedictine monasteries were founded in England. As members of a highly
successful order many Benedictine houses became extremely wealthy and
influential. Their wealth can frequently be seen in the scale and flamboyance
of their buildings. Benedictine monasteries made a major contribution to many
facets of medieval life and all examples exhibiting significant surviving
archaeological remains are worthy of protection.
Excavation at Sandwell Priory has indicated that the ruins and buried
features of the site survive well. The full extent of the claustral ranges and
ancillary structures will remain in the form of post holes and buried
foundations within the precinct boundary, and floor levels will preserve
environmental and artefactual evidence for the activities that took place
there. All this information will enhance our understanding of the
relationships of the priory buildings and their various dates and functions.
The subsistence and broader economic setting of this religious community can
be understood in part from the earthwork remains of the fishponds, which will
retain information relating to their method of construction and operation.
Further foundations and floor levels of both the 16th century house and the
later Sandwell Hall will survive below ground and will increase our
understanding of the layout of these houses and their curtilage, and evidence
for the design of their associated gardens will also survive.
Details
The monument is situated within the Sandwell Valley Country Park and includes
the ruins, earthworks and buried remains of Sandwell Priory, and the buried
remains of a post-Dissolution house and those of Sandwell Hall, the 19th
century house which replaced it, together with part of its associated garden
remains.
Sandwell Priory, a Benedictine house, was founded in the late 12th century at
the site of a holy well, known as Sand Well, which is mentioned in the
monastery's foundation charter. It was dissolved in 1525 and a house,
described as Priory House, was created from the renovated remains of some of
the claustral buildings. In 1701 Lord (later the Earl of) Dartmouth, bought
the site and a new house was erected. The demolition of the hall in 1928
revealed that some monastic foundations had been re-used for the construction
of the hall and medieval masonry incorporated within the 18th century fabric.
Excavations at the site have recovered evidence for both the layout of the
priory and its subsequent history. The conventual buildings lie within a
roughly rectangular inner precinct or enclosure which was bounded by a ditch
on at least its north, east and west sides. In its earliest form, the priory
included what later became the east part of the church, which was aligned
east-west, and timber structures to the north and north east. Excavations of
the pits and surviving posts north of the church indicate that two timber
buildings were located here at right angles to each other. By the 13th
century the claustral ranges had been rebuilt in stone, and a century later
the east range was reconstructed. Further structural modifications occurred in
the 15th century when the church was reduced in size. The church, at its most
developed, had a crossing, north and south transepts, and an apsidal ended
chancel, flanked on each side by two chapels. All the walls were constructed
of local sandstone. An illustration of the site indicates that the church was
still standing in 1588, but was demolished shortly after this date. The
foundations of most of the east end of the church and the east range are
visible on the ground surface whilst the rest of the priory buildings will
survive as buried features. The priory cemetery, which has been partly
excavated, is located to the east of the church and will provide information
on the sealed remains of the site's medieval population.
Excavations in the northern part of the inner precinct have shown that the
main walls of the east range, which was incorporated into the post-Dissolution
house, show evidence of alteration during this period. The floor layout of
Priory House appears to have been based closely on that of the priory, but
with a certain amount of sub-division by brick partition walls. The
construction of the new Sandwell Hall in 1705-11, however, resulted in changes
across the site, with the east range of the priory becoming the west range of
the hall.
To the north and north west of the inner precinct are a series of ponds
aligned east to west, of which at least three are considered to be monastic
in origin but have been modified to some extent when the site was landscaped
in the 18th century. The water from the spring, to the south of the conventual
buildings, was channelled to supply the kitchen and the reredorter or privy,
and then the fishponds. Only the two easternmost ponds are believed to retain
much of their original form, bounded by dams along their north west sides,
whilst those to the west are believed to have been considerably modified at a
later date and are not included in the scheduling. The easternmost ponds
however, are included in the scheduling.
In the 18th and 19th centuries much of the land around Sandwell Hall was laid
out as landscaped gardens with a ha-ha bounding those to the east and north
east. To the west of the hall and the priory enclosure is a long, narrow
canal-like feature which is now known as Monk's Pool and is believed to be a
flooded ha-ha. A section of this feature, some 15m in length, is included in
the scheduling to preserve the relationship between the site of the hall and
its associated gardens. The site of the holy well to the south of the hall was
also incoporated into the gardens and is shown as a circular structure on an
engraving of the late 18th century. By 1889 this had been replaced by a
rectangular structure and a fountain. Part excavation of this area located
three interconnected brick chambers and a reservoir, with the water originally
being fed to the fountain along pipes from springs to the east.
All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath
them is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
