More information : [ST 79904036] Remains of St. Mary's Priory [GT] (Austin Canons)
Priory Farm [TI] (1)
St. Mary the Virgin's Hospital, Maiden Bradley, was founded c.1154(2)/before 1164(5) for poor and/or leprous women under the case of secular brothers or priests. It became an Augustinian priory c.1190(2)/before 1204(5) and though the hospital was still mentioned it ceased to exist before the suppression of the priory in 1536. All that survives at Priory Farm is an L-shaped building of rubble with dressed-stone quoins formerly part of the outer non-claustral range, which contains a gateway, doorways, windows and roofs, apparently dating from the late 15th or early 16th c., though parts of the external wall may be older. (2-5)
The surviving remains are as described. See AO 66/101/2,3 and 4. A farm worker reports that a coin hoard (approx.100) was found c.1956 when the wall at the S.E. corner of the orchard (ST 79914028) was being rebuilt but he could give no information as to the type or whereabouts of the coins, nor could any details be obtained locally. (6)
The earthworks at Priory Farm were surveyed by staff of the RCHME Salisbury office as part of a project focusing on the earthworks of South Wiltshire. The following is abstracted from the archive report:
The surveyed earthworks at Priory Farm lie in several fields around the existing farm, which is situated in the valley of a small tributary of the River Frome. The site lies in pasture on Upper Greensand and Clay at a height of 150m OD. The most substantial remains are those of a large triangular enclosure c 90m x 120m sited on a natural prominence. It is likely that this enclosure represents the site of the leper hospital, perhaps with the remains of individual cells along the N wall and a larger communal structure in the SW corner.
A second block of earthworks bounded on the E by the complex of buildings around the farm and on the SW and SE by modern field boundaries and tracks includes the remains of a late 15th C gatehouse. The inclusion of this gatehouse within the existing range of farm buildings suggests that they may occupy the sites of earlier structures arranged on the NE and SE sides of the square complex. The form and dimensions of the earthwork complex and the associated 15th C structural remains suggest that it represents the remains of a claustral layout associated with the priory.
The third group of earthworks comprise the S and E of the farm. These include the remains of earlier fields, and the possible remains of a leat carrying water to or from the pond and mill to the N. A full description of the surveyed earthworks and a summary of the known history of the site is contained in the archive report. (7)
A rapid examination of air photography (8a) shows earthworks of various enclosures and fishponds, etc. around Priory Farm, presumably associated with the Priory. (8)
Further reference. (9)
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