This account of the abbey appears to contradict the notion that it was one
of
the ones disbanded by Henry in 1538 or thereabouts. It had obviously
declined
well before then .
I think this would be a good place for a Catley family reunion in a couple
of years
time
kay
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WALCOTT: CATLEY PRIORY
TF 116555
The Gilbertine Priory of St Mary, Catley, was founded as a double community
of canons and nuns by Peter of Billinghay, a mesne tenant of the archbishop
of York in Walcott and Billinghay, between 1146 and 1154. Its endowment
consisted of the island of Catley, the site of a grange and two furlongs and
two carucates of land in the territory of Walcott, the church of Billinghay
and its chapel of Walcott, and pasture and fishing (1). The foundation
proved locally popular and soon attracted many other grants of land. Ralf
Alselin of Ruskington was perhaps its most generous patron, granting the
grange of Sleight next to Catley in Digby Fen and confirming the extensive
gifts of land and rights of pasture of his men in Digby, Dorrington, and
Brauncewell (2). By the end of the century the priory had also acquired
lands and dues in many of the surrounding vills along with a few small
parcels in Lindsey (3). Catley, however, was never rich. Apart from its two
granges, which, ditched and enclosed, were worked as demesne farms, its
holdings were mostly small and scattered, and the bulk of its income seems
to have come from wool and its spiritualities which amounted to £20 in 1254
(4). In the fourteenth century it descended into financial crisis and
decline, and in 1535 it was valued at only £34 18s. 6d. It was dissolved in
1538, and the site was eventually acquired by Robert Carre of Sleaford (5).
Situated in the fen of Walcott at its boundary with Digby, the
precinct of the priory probably occupied much of the island of Catley (Fig
22). The site may already have been used for sheep grazing - Sleight,
granted before 1184, means 'sheep pasture' (6) - but Peter of Billinghay
cannot have overlooked the economic benefits that his estate would reap from
the land improvements at which the Gilbertines excelled (7). The ditching
and draining that ensued must have enhanced the quality of much of his
pasture in the area. None of the conventual buildings is upstanding, and
only one notice has been found of them in medieval sources and that
prosaically refers to a burial in the chapter house (8). But the
establishment must have been substantial, for, like all Gilbertine houses,
it supported a large community: St Gilbert restricted it to 60 nuns and lay
sisters and 35 canons and brethren at its foundation, and even in 1376 there
was a prior, two canons, one lay brother, a prioress, eighteen nuns, and
eight sisters (9).
Aerial photographs taken on a number of occasions, however, give a
good idea of the layout of the site (10). They show clearly that the present
scheduled area (no 251) does not fully cover the main built-up area. Indeed,
it cuts across the eastern precinct wall, which is now ploughed but was
pasture in 1965. A similar southern boundary can also be seen as a soil mark
(Pl IV). The main buildings occupy the centre of the site. Two rectangular
enclosures west of centre each surrounded by buildings, appear to be two
cloisters similar to those found at the mother house in Sempringham. There
are other buildings to the west, but on the probable church site there is
considerable disturbance. This is no doubt partly accounted for by stone
robbing. Trollope explains that there was disturbance in 1775 when a cottage
was built on the site, and it is probably this activity which removed some
of the evidence. The combined accounts of both Creasey and Trollope mention
a stone pavement, painted glass, human bones and 'several monumental slabs,'
one of which was kept for some time in a nearby farmhouse (11). A faded
aerial photograph taken in 1976 shows the waterfilled ditches at the
south-west of the site and ploughed-out masonry to the east (12). The
earthwork survey confirms the alignment of the various buildings and ditches
(Fig 23). Two narrow water-filled ditches currently form a boundary on the
south and west sides, but do not join at the corner. Instead they appear to
turn inwards, giving a five metre wide causeway approach from the north;
they are taken to be fishponds. These main ponds consist of one lying
north/south, 60 metres long by eight metres wide, and three aligned
east/west. A three metre wide bank stands between the two. The northern pond
is 60 metre long by 18 metre wide with almost square corners, the centre one
is 40 metres long by 18 metres wide and the southern one runs parallel to
the centre pond for 50 metres then turns north-east towards the eastern end
of the southern one. All these ponds are now about 1.8 metres deep and
contain water to a depth of 1 metres.
Some time after 1908 the site 'acquired a new interest from the
discovery at a depth of 80 ft of a natural spring of mineral water, very
similar in its character to the well- known German seltzer' (13). The Catley
Abbey Natural Seltzer Water Company was registered in Sheffield in 1909 but
had ceased production by 1937. Some of the rubbish used to fill in the
ditches in recent times includes Catley Abbey Mineral Water bottles and it
is just possible that some of the foundations visible in the aerial
photographs are related to premises used in the collection and bottling of
this water.
1. Transcripts of Gilbertine Charters, ed. F. M. Stenton, LRS 18,
Lincoln 1922, 72-3.
2. Transcripts of Gilbertine Charters, ed. F. M. Stenton, LRS 18,
Lincoln 1922, 73-4, 81-2.
3. Transcripts of Gilbertine Charters, ed. F. M. Stenton, LRS 18,
Lincoln 1922, 75-90.
4. Norwich, 506.
5. VCH Lincs, 196-7; Trollope, 500.
6. J. Field, English Field Names: a Dictionary, Newton Abbot 1972,
207.
7. D. M. Owen, Church and Society in Medieval Lincolnshire, Lincoln
1971, 57.
8. Transcripts of Gilbertine Charters, ed. F. M. Stenton, LRS 18,
Lincoln 1922, 74.
9. Mon Ang vii, xcvii; D. M. Owen, Church and Society in Medieval
Lincolnshire, Lincoln, 1971, 144.
10. CCAP, RC8 BF 73, AKO 6.
11. Trollope, 500.
11. A. White, Sempringham Priory, Lincoln 1979, 7-11.
12. Photograph in the possession of Mr. M. Gillett