| Summary : The site of an Early Medieval settlement, a Medieval manor and Fonterraultine double house. The manor of Leighton was granted by Henry II in 1164 to Fontrevault, a cell of brethren being established after 1189. It appears not to have become completely conventual. Only Grovebury was still regarded as an alien priory of the order after 1294, when the King temporarily took all of the Fontrevaultine houses into his hands. It was dissolved in 1414. Excavation and documentary evidence from English and French sources combine to support the theory that a conventual house never became properly established. From a chapel combined with living quarters, the site rapidly became a chapel with resident chaplains in a manorial complex rented to tenants. In the 13th and 14th centuries Grove was used as an occasional royal residence, and the Crown seems to have kept an interest until at least 1480. It is not clear when the priory completely lost its religious function and degenerated into a farmhouse. Iron Age and Roman findspots have also been located at the site. |
More information : The manor of Leighton was granted to the Order of Fontevrault of Benedictine Nuns and Brothers by Henry II in 1164. A cell of brothers was established, apparently after 1189, and a prior is mentioned in 1195-6. The house was small with no more than 4 or 5 religious, and was dependent on Fontevrault. The house was dissolved about 1414 and passed to the college of Eton in 1438. (1,2)
Excavations were begun in 1973 in advance of sand extraction. The earliest finds occurred in 1976 in Area C (see plan), where Iron Age and Roman pottery sherds were found. A two-post Anglo-Saxon Grubenhaus was found in the same area, this being the first structural evidence for Saxon occupation.
The layout of the Medieval buildings was very complex and did not conform to the conventional monastic plan. At least eight periods of building have been revealed:
Period 1. Residual Saxon pottery indicates the possibility of earlier occupation.
Period 2.(late 12th century). A masonry chapel was separated from a timber hall by a passage room. A boundary ditch on the N. ran E. and W.
Period 3. (late 12th century). The timber hall was rebuilt in stone, and the ecclesiastic and secular functions apparently divided by a vestibule and porch replacing the passage. An oratory was added N. of the chapel, and a cemetery on the S.
Period 4. (late 12th to 13th century). The hall was widened on the N. A substantial stone footing abutted this latest wall, and was built into the filled ditch. Another N. range of buildings adjoined the hall farther W., and the hall was also extended westwards.
Period 5 (13th to 14th century). A reredorter (?) at the west end contained a drain which was probably stone-lined. It collected water from smaller tile or masonry drains of several periods and emptied itself by a carstone sluice towards nearby fishponds. Immediately S. a masonry building contained ovens. A doorway in the south wall of the hall led to an open space bounded by the graveyard wall on the E. and a roadway on the S. Timber structures here were replaced by several resurfacings of cobbling and the courtyard was subdivided by walls. Hearths were inserted into the vestibule, hall and the structure straddling the ditch.
Period 6 (14th to 15th century). A timber structure on carstone dwarf walls was inserted into the remains of the hall. A timber floor and a new hearth were laid down. A service wing with stone-lined garderobe was added on the W. A flimsy timber range, again on stone footings, was built partly against the E. wall of the chapel.
Period 7 (16th-17th century). A range or rooms built in two phases and including a possible gatehouse replaced a fence line bounding the road.
Period 8(17th-18th century). The east end of the chapel was partitioned off and appears to have been the only section of building to escape domestic use, though it is not certain whether it was still used for religious purposes. The western portion was made habitable by the insertion of a fireplace and chimney.
Excavation and documentary evidence from English and French sources combine to support the theory that a conventual house never became properly established. From a chapel combined with living quarters, the site rapidly became a chapel with resident chaplains in a manorial complex rented to tenants. In the 13th and 14th centuries Grove was used as an occasional royal residence, and the Crown seems to have kept an interest until at least 1480. It is not clear when the priory completely lost its religious function and degenerated into a farmhouse. (3-14)
Further excavation was carried out in 1979 and concentrated on the main buildings. A 13th/14th century bake or brew-house was discovered (Period 5). The south range of buildings (period 7) appeared to continue west and may have been integrated into the remains of a possible 14th century bridge abutment.
Excavations continuing. (15,16)
Full manorial history. The manor of Leighton, later known as Grovebury, was the largest royal manor in Bedfordshire and consisted in 1086 of 47 hides. The manor was granted to the Abbey of Fontevrault by Henry II in 1164, but was given by the abbess to Mary of Woodstock, daughter of Edward I and a nun at Amesbury, about the beginning of the 14th century to hold for her life. It apparently never returned to the possession of the abbey and the priory was dissolved in 1414. (17)
Further investigation took place of the 13th century bake/brew house. A series of 12th century drainage gullies predated the building. A large post-built structure containing Saxon pottery was located beneath a post-pad building south of the bakehouse.
Below-ground evidence tends to support documentary research showing that the site was the Royal Manor of Leighton before becoming a priory.
A rare travelling candlestick was found during excavation in 1979. It is of French origin, made of gilded copper alloy decorated with enamel, and less than a dozen like it have been found. It is complete and probably of 13th-14th century date. (18) |