Bertram Haget, with his son and daughters, founded the community with the consent of Lord Roger of Mowbray.
According to Knowles and Hadcock, there were 12 nuns around the time of suppression besides the prioress. There were 10 in 1535 besides an ex-prioress and 2 chaplains (Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales, 225).
1172
Esholt was possibly founded by Sinningthwaite.
The nunnery was visited and disciplined by archbishops, subsequent to their appeal to the pope in 1276 (Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest, 108).
Gundreda Haget, daughter of Bertram; Simon and Maud Ward gave land at Esholt.
The community may have been linked with the community of Esholt in Yorkshire (Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest, 221).
The community had the income of the church of Bilton. In 1535 its net annual income was valued at 60 pounds, 15 shillings, and 2 pence.
In 1276 the community appealed to the pope against the right of the archbishop to visit them, claiming the exemption of the Cistercian order and referring to the authority of the abbot of Fountains. They seem to have lost the appeal (Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest, 107).
[1]Foundation confirmed by Roger of Mowbray (About 1160)
[2]Papal privilege conferred by Alexander II (1172)
There was a serpent carved above the doorway of the nuns' refectory from the twelfth century. Gender and Material Culture: The Archaeology of Religious Women; 157.
The remains of the priory consist of a two story house which was the south range of the cloister. The dwelling stands 40 feet high, 26 feet wide, and 52 feet long. The inside of the building contains 6 rooms divided equally between the upper and lower stories. A twelfth century portal of English Norman style exists on the north side with one order of leaf capitals over plain free- standing columns. Over the arch are zigzags which are at right angles to the wall surface and can be seen on both the upper and lower stories. Oppostie the house are some fragments cemented into the wall which date from the Norman times to the fourteenth century (The Buildings of England: Yorkshire West, 506, quoted in Medieval English Cistercian Nunneries: Their Art and Physical Remains), 175).
The remains of the priory consist of a two story house which was the south range of the cloister. The dwelling stands 40 feet high, 26 feet wide, and 52 feet long. The inside of the building contains 6 rooms divided equally between the upper and lower stories. A twelfth century portal of English Norman style exists on the north side with one order of leaf capitals over plain free standing columns. Over the arch are zigzags which are at right angles to the wall surface and can be seen on both the upper and lower stories. Oppostie the house are some fragments cemented into the wall which date from the Norman time to the fourteenth century (The Buildings of England:Yorkshire West, 506, quoted inMedieval English Cistercian Nunneries: Their Art and Physical Remains), 175).
Medieval English Cistercian Nunneries: Their Art and Physical Remains, 175.
The Medieval Remains of Sinningthwaite Nunnery
Dugdale's Monasticon Volume 5, 468, no. 13.
Cistercian Nunnery of Sinningthwaite, in Yorkshire
Women Religious: The Founding of English Nunneries After the Norman Conquest
The Buildings of England
Medieval Religious Houses in England and Wales; 225.
The Victoria History of the County of York3:176-78 available online at ">http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=36252&strquery=Sinni... [Victoria County History]
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