Haltemprice Priory

Haltemprice Priory was an Augustinian monastery two miles south of Cottingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Founded in the 14th century, it once controlled lands from Willerby to Kirk Ella. The priory’s name comes from the medieval French for ‘High Endeavour’. Thomas Wake granted it manors, rents and churches in the 1320s. The priory reached its peak influence between 1320 and 1342 under Wake’s patronage. After his death in 1349, the priory fell into debt and disrepair. A gale in 1411 blew down the bell-tower and a fire destroyed the gateway. The priory’s decline continued through lawsuits and financial strain. In 1415 it was exempt from royal taxes because of its poverty. A dispute with Hull’s sheriff over Willerby and Wolfreton lasted years before a court ruling favoured the priory. By 1536, Henry VIII’s commissioners visited and recorded nine canons and forty servants living there. The priory was dissolved later that year as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Sir Thomas Wake, its founder, was buried on the site in the 14th century. Today, a 16th-century farmhouse stands on the priory grounds. It incorporates stonework from the dissolved monastery and was altered in later centuries. The farmhouse was restored in the 2020s while keeping its historic character. The priory site itself is protected as a Scheduled Monument. The farm is a Grade II* listed building, recognised for its architectural and historic interest. Visitors can see the remains and sense the priory’s former scale and ambition.