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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 January 2012
The ruins of Dudley Priory lie a short distance north of the town in the valley below the castle. The surrounding grounds belonged to a house recently acquired by the Borough Council. They have been laid out as a public park, and the plan included the clearance and preservation of the monastic remains, a task which was entrusted to the Ancient Monuments Branch of H.M. Office of Works. In the course of the clearance small trial excavations were undertaken in order to explore the earlier history of the conventual buildings. The results of these excavations and the following survey of the architectual remains are recorded by the courtesy of the Town Council of Dudley and of the Office of Works. In particular I am indebted to the Borough Surveyor and to Mr. A. Heasman, then Chief Architect in charge of Ancient Monuments. I have also to thank the Office of Works for the plan and the photographs which illustrate this paper, while in the preparation of the text I owe much to Dr. Rose Graham, F.S.A., and to Mr. A. W. Clapham, President of the Society of Antiquaries.
page 449 note 1 The honour and manor of Dudley are treated in V.C.H. Worcestershire, iii, 90, and William Salt Society, Historical Collections, ix, part ii; the Priory in V.C.H. Worcestershire, ii, 158.
page 449 note 2 Arch. Journ. lxxi, 1.
page 449 note 3 Archaeologia, lxxii, 105.
page 450 note 1 Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, v, 83.
page 450 note 2 Eardeswick, Survey of Staffordshire, p. 341.
page 450 note 3 Dugdale, op. cit. v, 83; Jaffé, Regesta Pontificum, 14665 (16 June 1182).
page 450 note 4 Shown in a print of 1774, Prattinton Collection, no. 16 (Society of Antiquaries).
page 450 note 5 Prepared for the Universal Magazine before 1772.
page 451 note 1 A twelfth-century deed shows that Osbert, the prior, and two other monks then formed a perfect convent. Instances of incomplete monastic churches surviving till the Reformation are provided by the Cistercian abbey of Cymmer (Official Guide: H.M. Office of Works) and the Augustinian priory of Frithelstock (Devon Archaeological Exploration Society, ii, 20). In both cases the nave alone was completed and served the whole needs of the community until the Dissolution.
page 452 note 1 Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, Essex, S.E., 151.
page 452 note 2 Records of Bucks, xi. 165.
page 452 note 3 Pipe Roll 6 Ric. I (Pipe Roll Society, 74). The relationship is established by Pipe Roll 10 Ric. I (ibid. 122), where Gervase is spoken of as uncle (avunculus) of Ralph.
page 453 note 1 Calendar of the Close Rolls, 1227–31, p. 190.
page 453 note 2 Inquisitiones post mortem, 1 Edw. I (Aug.) and 19–20 Edw. I (Calendar of Inquisitions, ii, no. 16, 813).
page 453 note 3 Dugdale, op. cit. v, 84. The date, anno domini MCCXC et consecrationis nostrae xxxiii, indicates Jan. 1291. Bishop Roger was consecrated on 10th March 1258 (Stubbs, Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum, 61). This must be a mistake, as Roger de Somery died in the autumn of 1291.
page 453 note 4 Dugdale, op. cit. v, 84.
page 455 note 1 Quoted in Twamley, History of Dudley Castle and Priory, 111.
page 455 note 2 The arms of Somery are Or two lions passant azure.
page 455 note 3 Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1318–23, p. 630.
page 455 note 4 Calendar of Close Rolls, 1408–13, p. 395, and 1413–16, p. 304.
page 455 note 5 Taxatio ecclesiastica Angliae et Walliae, 217, 228, 243, and 251 (Record Commission).
page 455 note 6 Valor Ecclesiasticus, iii, 104 (Record Commission).
page 455 note 7 Duckett, Charters and Records of the Abbey of Cluni, ii, 213.
page 456 note 1 Engraved before 1772 for the Universal Magazine.
page 457 note 1 Prattinton Collection, no. 14 (Society of Antiquaries).
page 457 note 2 The stream here had been dammed up to form fishponds. The pools could still be seen in 1776 (Grose, Antiquities of England and Wales, vi, 52).
page 457 note 3 Prattinton Collection, no. 13 (circa 1770) (Society of Antiquaries).
page 457 note 4 Ibid., no. 14 (circa 1770).
page 458 note 1 Livery granted 24th July 1532 (Letters and Papers, Henry Fill, v, 1207 (48)).
page 458 note 2 Ibid, xii, 1203 (1537).
page 458 note 3 Ibid, xvi, 678 (47).
page 458 note 4 Calendar of Patent Rolls, Philip and Mary, 1554–5, p. 23 (1554).
page 458 note 5 Eardeswick quoted in Twamley, History of Dudley Castle and Priory, 111.
page 458 note 6 Grose, Antiquities of England and Wales, vi, 50, pls. 1–2; Prattinton Collection, no. 13 (Society of Antiquaries).
page 458 note 7 Information kindly sent by Mr. Herbert Newey, great-grandson of Mr. Nicklin.