| Summary : Augustinian priory founded between 1147 and 1151, dissolved in 1536. After Dissolution the monastic buildings were converted into a secular residence which was succeeded in less than 20 years by a country house established in the original core of the village, now Canons Ashby House (see UID 339695). The present St Mary's Church represents the standing remains of the western part of the nave of the monastic church. Adjacent to the east is a raised rectangular platform about 50 metres long and 20 metres wide which was partly excavated in the 19th century revealing the foundations of the eastern parts of the original church. Adjacent to the south of the remains of the church are those of the monastic cloister. These were found to have been converted into domestic outbuildings in the late 16th century. The boundary of the monastic precinct and of the country house which developed out of it is represented by a series of earthworks and buried deposits and by a fragment of standing masonry. To the east of the monastic precinct is an area of pasture known as Canons Walk, bounded on the north and east by a linear bank with a ditch on each side. The interior of the enclosure is largely level. On its western side is a shallow depression representing the site of a building, and to the south is a circular mound 0.5 metres high. These features are considered to represent the remains of a post-Dissolution garden established in the mid-16th century. The linear bank served as a raised walk from which planting on the interior of the garden would have been viewed, and the circular mound is a prospect mound constructed as a vantage point from which the whole garden could be seen. The earthworks were surveyed by RCHME field staff in 1992. |
More information : SP 577 505: St Mary's Church. Remains of Priory (LB) Augustinian
SP 578 504: Moat (LB)
SP 580 504: Canons Walk (LB) (1)
The Augustinian Priory at Canons Ashby dedicated to the Blessed Virgin was founded 1147-51 probably for 13 canons, and was dissolved in 1536. A church and surrounding land, houses, crofts, a fishpond and a horse-mill were given at the founding. The present church is a surviving part of the conventual building altered throughout the medieval period. Excavation in 1828 found walls running more than 100 feet east of the present building, others interpreted as the old choir and chapter house. The stone had no doubt been used to build the residence of the Copes, who were granted the site in 1538. This house was demolished 1710. At SP 57955040 is a circular mark (the horse mill?). (2)
At Canons Ashby the major surviving portion of the monastic establishment is the west front of the church (the remainder of it being post-dissolution, probably when it was coverted to the domestic chapel). Part of one column survives in a roadside wall at SP 5778 5056, a stone medieval well house is at SP 5785 5070 and a walled garden at SP 5785 5048 is locally believed to have been the vineyard.
A recent excavation at SP 5779 5048 for MPBW uncovered the south west corner of the cloister. The moat, enclosure banks and ponds to the south east have been recently altered by filling and ploughing and now only part survive. The site of the Copes house which may have been one of the monastic buildings converted was not established. The site of the horse mill could not be substantiated. See photos and annotated 25" surveys. (3)
Church of St Mary, used as a private chapel. Grade A (39/1)
Well to north of church, Grade II (39/2) (4)
A test excavation south of the church (see plan) proved Dryden's plan to be correct in this small area. (5)
The church is now derelict and in a delapidated condition; otherwise there is no change to this site. (6)
SP 577 505 RCHM interprets later building on 1970 excavation site as probably John Cope's house. Finds included late 16th or 17th century Venetian glass.
Earthworks described as 'Canons Walk' or 'The Vineyard' are probably remnants of a 16th century garden. The south west bank overlies ridge and furrow on air photographs. The well house is 18th or 19th century though finds of lead and wooden pipes in the 19th century suggest that the well provided the medieval water supply [RCHM plan]. (7)
This site was formerly recorded under SP 55 SE 1. The 'Medieval well' mentioned by previous sources has been assigned a new record: SP 55 SE 26. (8)
In December 1992, RCHME's Cambridge office carried out an analytical earthwork survey of St Marys Churchyard following a request from the National Trust (9).
The graveyard was formerly smaller than the present enclosed area. The surviving graves are on a roughly rectangular platform covering 75% of the modern graveyard. The platform stands up to 1.2 metres above the footings of the church from which it is separated by a gravel path and a retaining wall.
The platform is almost level except for disturbances on the north east (a large tree) and the south west (the Dryden family burial enclosure). In the centre of the platform are irregular earthworks and a rectilinear hollow suggestive of an excavation, near to remains which Henry Dryden, in the 19th century, attributed to the priory (5).
A resistivity survey by Northamptonshire Archaeological Unit suggested walls buried beneath the graveyard but did not reveal a clear ground plan.(9a)
An earthwork probably representing a small pond lies at the eastern end of the graveyard. At present this forms a soak-away for the stream running into its northern end but once may have held standing water.
To the south of the church lies the trapezoidal enclosure referred to as the Canons' Walk in the RCHME inventory (7).
Its southern and western sides have been destroyed or reduced by ploughing. However crop marks of the west side suggest that the bank had ditches on both sides. In the southern part of the enclosure are some, heavily silted, small ponds with a low sub-circular mound, possibly a prospect mound, to their north. The RCHME Inventory suggests that
the Canons' Walk and related features were incorporated into the sixteenth century garden associated with Sir John Cope's house. The Canons' Walk overlies ridge-and-furrow but, as the land surrounding the village (SP 55 SE 1) was enclosed before Dissolution this stratigraphic relationship cannot exclude an association between the Priory and the enclosure.
The L-shaped 'moat' east of Canons' Walk is largely infilled, surviving as a terraced feature. The western bank of Canons' Walk appears to be built up against the moat confirming the moats association with the priory complex.
A group of earthworks forming a slightly distorted square around the church may indicate the boundary of the priory precincts. This perimeter is defined by the moat, the margins of the churchyard and the scarps in the paddock west of the church. This putative precinct corresponds closely to the location of the north gate, would enclose all the known buildings and is surrounded on three sides by ridge and furrow. (9b)
Excavations were carried out in the churchyard by Baker and the Reverend Henry Dryden in the early 19th century. (5, 9a, 9c)
St Mary's Church has recently been renovated by the National Trust following acquisition of the Canons Ashby estate in 1981.(9c) For further details, see RCHME Level 3 client report and plan at 1:1000 scale, held in archive. (9)
The cropmark of a possible Post Medieval rectangular enclosure can be seen on aerial photographs taken in 2004. This is situated to the south of Canons Ashby at SP 5768 5026. One side of this enclosure is defined by the cropmark of a field boundary depicted on a 1952 Ordnance Survey map.(11-12) |