St. Aldhelm

Bishop of Sherborne. He held an estate in the area. He is known to have visited the locality in AD700 and to have founded a religious house. There is no proof that this house was The Priory. No alternative site has been found.

876 invasion

Cressy mentions ...a noble monasterie of religious virgins seated in the same town [Wareham]. This was certainly on the present site. At various times large numbers of skeletons have been excavated in and adjacent to The Priory. Many of the earlier ones were female and thought to be the remains of these same religious virgins. Hutchins tells of a 'cartload of bones' being removed when a cellar was dug, some of them from between two stone slabs. One of these, a broken thighbone, was unusually large.

Abbey of Lire

Also called Lira. The Abbey was founded by William Fitz Osborn, a kinsman of William the Conquerer

Grant of Fishing Rights

This action separated the rights from much of the adjoining land forming a several fishery (Several - severed from other rights). In consequence, long after the dissolution of the monasteries these rights became the subject of protracted legal action. At one time the then holder of the rights attempted to claim the entire river to its source, for a while he was allotted the river as far upstream as Holme Bridge but eventually it was found that rights only existed as far up as Wareham Pool. Curiously the Priory Hotel does hold some fishing rights so the entire fishery doesn't fall under the severance.

Income in 1291

Presumably the temporalities (non religious income) included the tithes of grain ground by the North Mill on the River Piddle which was known to be owned by the priory in 1150.

Priors of Wareham

Not all the Priors are known, a fairly complete list from the 13^th to the 15^th century can be assembled as follows:

Roger	Undated	During the reign of Richard I (1189-1199)
William	Mentioned	1216
Nicholas Bynet	Mentioned	1297
Peter de Deserto	Presented 1302
John Mabere	Presented 1311
Ralph de Coudray	Presented 1323
William de Bally	Presented 1329	Resigned 1332
John de Bediers	Presented 1332
Michael de Molis	Presented 1334
William de Barly	Presented 1343
William de Noys	Presented 1349	Resigned 1354
Robert de Gascur	Presented 1354	Also called Gascourt
Ludovicus de Goulaffe	Presented 1362	Resigned 1362
Peter Ultra Aqua	Presented 1362	Resigned 1364
William de Minquet	Presented 1364
Stephin de Barron		Died 1412
John Kyngeston	Presented 1412
Walter Eton	Presented 1416	Also spelled Eston, Elton & Eltone

Bibliography

• The Victoria History of the County of Dorset. V2

• Hutchins's History of Dorset
  John Hutchins was Rector of Wareham from 1743-1773. His tomb is in The Church of Lady St. Mary where he preached. His great history, his life's work, was saved from the 1762 fire of Wareham by the prompt action of his wife.

• Royal Commission on Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset See especially V2 Pt.2 p317

• Cressy Church History of Britain

• Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society: Proceedings XIX p82 Article by George Bennett

• Robert Douch Handbook of Local History: Dorset

• Country Life March 4^th 1976 Article on The Priory Garden by A.G.L. Hellyer

• Dorset Life July 1990 Article 'an historic site' on the history of The Priory by Paul Randall.

• Lillian Ladle Wareham, A Pictoral History. Phillimore Press 1994

• Some useful ephemera are stored in The Dorset County Library's "Wareham" file in Dorchester.