Haverholme Priory

Haverholme Priory stands in Lincolnshire, four miles north-east of Sleaford and less than two kilometres from Anwick. It began in 1137 when a bishop gave the site to Cistercian monks, who soon left and Gilbert of Sempringham’s order moved in. The Gilbertines ran a double monastery of nuns and brothers and kept nearby fens drained. In 1164 Thomas Becket is said to have hidden here during a quarrel with the king. By the 14th century the ferry to Sleaford and the drainage system had fallen into disrepair. The priory was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1538 and later became a private house. In 1763 it passed to the Gordon family, who enlarged it in 1788. Sir Jenison Gordon often met Jane Austen at his brother-in-law’s estate, where she described him and his wife kindly. When he died in 1831 the house went to his nephew, the 10th Earl of Winchilsea, who rebuilt it in the 1830s to designs by Henry Edward Kendall. Today the remains are a Grade II listed ruin of the 1835 Gothic house. The building once had turrets, battlements and a staircase topped with griffin finials. Gobelins tapestries and armour from Kirby Hall lined the walls, and Gainsborough paintings hung in the dining room. After the Finch-Hattons sold the estate in 1926 most of the stone was removed, leaving only the shell we see now.