Founded by Robert de Pillarton on his property in Pinley, for the usual 13 nuns. The community appears to remain small and poor. Pinley was apparently initially only given the site of the house in Pinley Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest:166.
L. de Sapy, H. de Langley, Langelegh, E. de Lotrynton, A. de Hinton, Hynton, M. le Bret, E. d'Chadderton, Chachuton, Hilwene.
Lay people were educated at community. In the 13th century, Gundrada & Isabel, daughters of Waleran, Earl of Warwickshire, a benefactor, were in residence.
There were 7 nuns in 1381, but there were only 4 in 1536.
There were visitations in 1269, 1284, 1290, 1300 with favorable results. Another in 1350 found too many lay residents.
Benefactors were Roger Pillarton and then Peter de Montfort in 1256. Further patrons were Robert de Pillarton, William Mareschal, Ernald de Bois, Robert de Tayden, Waleran Earl of Warwickshire, Walter de Eiville, William de Freynuse, William de Curley and Thurston.
The community had lands and also indulgences from the Archbishop in 1195; the Bishop of Worcester in 1253, and the Bishop Norwich in 1260. It was valued at more than 3 pounds a year in 1291, more than 27 pounds in 1535, and more than 25 pounds in 1536. In 1536 the community was more than 41 pounds in debt.
Income came from rents, tithes, and some grain sales. It has been calculated that in 1291 the temporal income of the house was under 4 pounds Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest: 166. According to Knowles and Hadcock it was actually 3 pounds, 10 shillings, and 0 pence. Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales: 225. The community's annual income was valued at 23 pounds, 5 shillings and 11 pence in 1535.
In 1535 the community spent 8 pounds a year from a total of 27.
[1] In the first document the Bishop of Worcester confirms the foundation before 1151.
[2] Again confirmation from the Bishop of Worcester 1151-8.
An oval seal remains with a representation of the Prioress with her staff.
The site is now a working farm with parts of the nunnery's church made into a small barn. All that remains of the church are sections of the north and west walls of the nave. Both walls have the bottom outlines of large windows but their style is impossible to determine. The north wall measures 37 feet, 2 inches and the west wall measures 35 feet, 8 inches. The interior is gained by a small Perpendicular doorway which leads to two bricked in arches, one of which is twelfth-century Norman and the other is Late Gothic with a rose motif carved over the arch. It is unknown whether the doorways are in their original locations or if the were moved to their present positions at sometime after the suppression. To the west of the nave are walls of an outer parlor and adjoining it, projecting to the west, is a timber-framed house of about 1500, which may have been the worldly house of a late abbot Medieval English Cistercian Nunneries: Their Art and Physical Remains: 174.
The site is now a working farm with parts of the nunnery's church made into a small barn. All that remains of the church are sections of the north and west walls of the nave. [See Architecture/Archaeology above]
Medieval English Cistercian Nunneries: Their Art and Physical Remains
Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest
Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales; 225.
Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 4
Nunnery of Pinley, or Pynelegh, in Warwickshire
The Victoria History of the County of Warwick2:82-83, available online at ">http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36497&strquery=pinley"> [Victoria County History]
MAD 6/10/97
[V0623]
In 1284 the Bishop of Worcester granted the community the privilege of wearing ungirded linen rochets.
