Black Ladies Priory was a house of Benedictine nuns, located about 4 km west of Brewood in Staffordshire, on the northern edge of the hamlet of Kiddemore Green. Founded in the mid-12th century, it was a small, often struggling, house. It was dissolved in 1538, and a large house was built on the site in Tudor and Jacobean styles by the Giffard family of Chillington Hall. Much of this is incorporated in the present Black Ladies, a large, Grade II*-listed, private residence.
Name and dedication The priory was dedicated to St. Mary but was often simply referred to as "Black Ladies;"Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 1. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. the elided form, "Blackladies," is also used. The Benedictine nuns resident in the priory wore black habits, but this was so elsewhere too. The use of the term Black Ladies for the Brewood priory is in contradistinction to another priory in the neighbourhood an Augustinian convent dedicated to St. Leonard and known as White Ladies Priory.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), footnote 1. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. The two priories were founded at about the same time and were of about the same size and importance. Medieval documents, particularly in the reign of Henry III frequently refer to the nuns or the priory of Brewood without indicating which community is meant. It would have made sense to distinguish the communities by the colour of their habits.
The precise formula used to refer to the convent officially evidently varied through time. The 14th-century seal of the priory bore the words: sigillum conventus sancte Marie nigrarum dominarum seal of the convent of St. Mary of the Black Ladies.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 46. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. A partial seal surviving from 1538 shows a seated Madonna and Child in a canopied niche with the inscription: [s]igillum commune nigrarum monialium de bre[. . .]W. de Gray Birch, p. 457. which translates as [s]eal of the community of the Black Nuns at Bre[...].
Foundation Black Ladies was situated within the manor of Brewood, which was held by the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, and probably on land granted by a bishopMidgley (ed). Brewood: Introduction, manors and agriculture: Lesser Estates, note anchor 610. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 5. This has led to the suggestion that it was founded by one of the bishops, and the one candidate seems to be Roger de Clinton, a powerful magnate who was a mainstay of King Stephen's regime during the Anarchy of the mid-12th century and who died in 1148. Clinton not only had the power and resources but is known to have founded Farewell PrioryBaugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 2. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. not far away in Cannock Chase and also small house dedicated to St. Mary. Although there is no positive evidence for the founder, its existence is attested mid-century in a deed by which Ralph Bassett, a local landowner, grants the nuns small areas of land at Pattingham and Hardwick.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 3. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3.
The secure existence of Black Ladies was confirmed in the next century. Pope Gregory IX (1227–1241) took the priory under his protection and confirmed it in its property holdings, both present and future.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 12. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. He explicitly recognised the right of the sisters to elect their own prioress, although the bishop was to ordain their chaplain.
Estates, endowments and finances
The priory was never wealthy and most of its income came from small, scattered estates, close by in Staffordshire or in neighbouring counties. A deed of 1170 has the nuns of Brewood and Blithbury, at Mavesyn Ridware, giving land they held at Ridware to the lord of the manor, in return for an annual rent of two shillings and confirmation of meadowland they already had there.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 4. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. This shows the nuns busily trying to make the most of a small holding. It also shows that there was already some sort of special relationship between Black Ladies and Blithbury. The Blithbury nuns obtained land at Gailey in Penkridge parish around 1160, but this had passed to Black Ladies by 1189,Midgley (ed). Penkridge: Introduction and manors, note anchor 332. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 5. when Henry II took it under royal control, leaving his son King John to compensate Black Ladies with the manor of Broome in 1200.Rotuli Chartarum in Turri Londinensi Asservati, p. 80. Three years later, the prioress vindicated her claim to the advowson of the church at Broome. Alexander de Bransford, the parson of Broome who died around 1205, had been presented by the previous manorial lord, Richard of Ombersley, whose father Maurice was reckoned the founder of the church.Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 3, p. 127. Broom had been created by partitioning Clent and granted to Maurice in 1154.Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 117. The church was thus sometimes considered a chapelry of the church at Clent and Herbert, the vicar of Clent, claimed the right to present a successor. The prioress successfully maintained that the king had acquired the advowson when he confiscated the manor and had handed over this potentially valuable asset to Black Ladies, although it was not mentioned in the charter of 1200. The priory seems to have retained the advowson thereafter.Page and Willis-Bund (eds). Parishes: Broom, note anchor 30.
The priory had its demesne its own site and small areas in the manor of Brewood. These latter were exchanged in the 13th century for a small, enclosed area close to the priory. Similarly, the nuns exchanged the Pattingham lands for an assart at Chillington, paying Ralph Bassett's widow, Isabel de Pattingham, £1 for the transaction.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 10. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. At some time in the late 12th century they acquired lands at Rudge, Shropshire.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 9. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. In 1204, William de Rudge charged them 4 marks and an annual rent of three pence to consolidate and extend their holding, exchanging land he had given them earlier. He also handed over lands previously held by one of his tenants for a payment of a palfrey and four marks, and an annual rent of 12 pence. In every case, the nuns seem to be consolidating scattered and unremunerative holdings to try to obtain a better and more secure income. A profitable asset was a mill at Chetton, given by the lady of the manor, Sybil de Broc, in 1225. In 1272 the nuns received lands at Broomhill, just east of the priory, from the heirs of Ralph de Coven,Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 17. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. as well as a rent in Brewood and another worth 16d. at Horsebrook.Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 1, p. 332. These were conveyed to the priory through a fine of lands levied by the prioress Amabilia or Mabel.
Kings made several small gifts and a few important concessions. In 1204 King John gave alms amounting to two marks each to a number of small communities in the Midlands, including both Brewood and Blithbury.Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 119. For explanation, see p. 123. Henry III made a number of grants "to the nuns of Brewood," without specifying whether the Benedictines of Black Ladies or their Augustinian neighbours were meant. These included permission to assart three acres of woodland in Sherwood Forest in 1241;Close Rolls of Henry III, 1237–1242, p. 273. three oaks from Kinver Forest in 1256;Close Rolls of Henry III, 1254–1256, p. 344. and a further 10 oaks from the same forest in 1267.Close Rolls of Henry III, 1264–1268, p. 331. However, a grant of 8 September 1241 was specifically to the "black nuns of Brewood:" one mark so that the sisters could redeem their chalice, which was in pledgeCalendar of Liberate Rolls, 1240–1245, p. 71. – an indicator of the poverty of the community. Probably more important was Henry's confirmation in 1267 of his father's charter of 1200 which had granted the land at Broom in exchange for Gayley.Calendar of Charter Rolls, 1257–1300, p. 79.
In 1275 Mabel and Alice, the prioresses respectively of Black Ladies and Blithbury, recorded a land deal with one Robert de Pipe.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Blithbury (Black Ladies), note anchor 8. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. Thereafter, definite references to the priory at Blithbury cease. Long associated with Black Ladies, it seems to have been absorbed into it in the late 13th century. Most of its lands appear in later records as assets of Blackladies. By the 16th century the Blithbury lands made a large contribution to the revenues of Black Ladies.Hibbert, p. 94.
In 1291Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 6, p. 152, F.274. Pope Nicholas IV granted an indulgence to all who would travel to Black Ladies to celebrate four Marian festivals and the church's anniversary there.Regesta 46, 1291–1292, 8 Ides May. in Calendar of Papal Registers Relating To Great Britain and Ireland: Volume 1, 1198–1304. This amounted to one year and forty days of penance – a considerable incentive to make the pilgrimage and so potentially a source of considerable income from offerings. In the Taxatio Ecclesiastica of that year the only property of Brewood recorded was the mill at Chetton, which was worth 16 shillings.Dugdale, p. 499. However, in the first decades of the 14th century the nuns were still poor enough to pursue a convoluted dispute with the vicar of Brewood over who should receive tithes on the wool of animals not owned by them but grazed on their land.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Brewood (Black Ladies), note anchor 21. in A History of the County of Stafford, volume 3. However, not much later their assessments for subsidies to the king were assessed at 2 shillings in 1327Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 7, p. 236. and 3 shillings in 1333Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 10, p. 121. – the latter one of the highest in the area.