Ivychurch Priory

Ivychurch Priory was a medieval monastic house in Alderbury, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries it became a private house and estate in the Herbert family. Sir Philip Sidney wrote most of his Arcadia there, and it lay within the sphere of Wilton House and the literary society which was encouraged there by Mary Sidney Herbert. Priory foundationThe Augustinian monastery of Ivychurch, also called Monasterium Ederosum or 'Ederose' was claimed in 1274 to have been a royal foundation of King Stephen's, based upon a small minster chapel dependent upon Alderbury church, either by Stephen's confirmation of the gift of the chapel to Salisbury in 1139 or by a subsequent endowment. The minster had a 12th-century cloister, and became the priory church, which also served as the parish church for the inhabitants of Clarendon Forest, in the environs of Clarendon Palace, throughout the mediæval period. After successive royal endowments (which are recorded down to the time of King Edward III) in 1473 the priory held 'at least 740 acres of pasture and wood' in the park and forest. The priory owned the manor of Whaddon in Alderbury and the advowson of the church, which were given by Robert de Bluntesdon, Canon of Salisbury: however in 1397, during the extravagant rule of Prior Virgo, when the number of canons at one point sank to only two, Richard II deprived Ivychurch of these holdings and placed them in the care of the Exchequer. However it was restored, and with right of warren, and pasture for 700 sheep, this was in 1535 the richest part of the Ivychurch priory holdings.

Ivychurch Priory was a medieval monastic house in Alderbury, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, England. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries it became a private house and estate in the Herbert family. Sir Philip Sidney wrote most of his Arcadia there, and it lay within the sphere of Wilton House and the literary society which was encouraged there by Mary Sidney Herbert. Priory foundationThe Augustinian monastery of Ivychurch, also called Monasterium Ederosum or 'Ederose' was claimed in 1274 to have been a royal foundation of King Stephen's, based upon a small minster chapel dependent upon Alderbury church, either by Stephen's confirmation of the gift of the chapel to Salisbury in 1139 or by a subsequent endowment. The minster had a 12th-century cloister, and became the priory church, which also served as the parish church for the inhabitants of Clarendon Forest, in the environs of Clarendon Palace, throughout the mediæval period. After successive royal endowments (which are recorded down to the time of King Edward III) in 1473 the priory held 'at least 740 acres of pasture and wood' in the park and forest. The priory owned the manor of Whaddon in Alderbury and the advowson of the church, which were given by Robert de Bluntesdon, Canon of Salisbury: however in 1397, during the extravagant rule of Prior Virgo, when the number of canons at one point sank to only two, Richard II deprived Ivychurch of these holdings and placed them in the care of the Exchequer. However it was restored, and with right of warren, and pasture for 700 sheep, this was in 1535 the richest part of the Ivychurch priory holdings.