Spalding Priory was a small Benedictine house in the town of Spalding, Lincolnshire, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin and St Nicholas.

It was founded as a cell of Croyland Abbey, in 1052, by Leofric, Earl of Mercia and his wife, Godiva, Countess of Leicester. It was supported by Leofric's eldest son. Ælfgār, Earl of Mercia and the monks were confirmed in their property in 1074, after the Norman Conquest of England.^[1]

Until 1220, Alkborough Priory Cell was a dependency of Spalding.

After 1071 one monk only remained in Spalding, so the house was refounded in 1074 as a dependent priory of St Nicholas's Abbey, Angers. The monks secured their independence from Angers in 1397, and remained so until 1540, when the house was surrendered at the dissolution. Six human skeletons found during building work in Bridge Street are presumed to indicate the site of the Priory burial ground.^[2]

Priors

Its priors included^[1]

Simon 1229–1252
James 1252–1253
John 1253–1274
At some time before 1278, there was a Wazinus.
William of Littleport 1278–1293
Clement 1293–1318
Walter de Halton 1318–1322 though he is reported as holding the post for 14 years.
Thomas de Nassington 1322–1353

Burials

Thomas Moulton (knight) and his father Lambert de Multon
Thomas de Moulton, father of Thomas de Multon, 1st Baron Multon of Gilsland
Lucy Mercia Tailebois, wife of Ivo Taillebois

References

"The Priory of Spalding", in William Page (ed.), A History of the County of Lincoln (London: Victoria County History, 1906), pp. 118–124.
Bailey, Mark, "Blowing up Bubbles: Some New Demographic Evidence for the Fifteenth Century?", Journal of Medieval History, vol. 15, no. 4 (1989), pp. 347–358.
Darby, H. C., The Medieval Fenland (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1940).
Gooch, E. H., A History of Spalding (Spalding: Spalding Free Press, 1940).
Hallam, H. E., "Goll Grange, a Grange of Spalding Priory", Lincolnshire Architectural and Archaeological Society Reports and Papers, vol. 5 (1953), pp. 1–18.
Hallam, H. E., The New Lands of Elloe: A Study of Early Reclamation in Lincolnshire, Department of English Local History Occasional Papers, no. 6 (Leicester: University College of Leicester, 1954).
Hallam, H. E., "Some Thirteenth-Century Censuses", The Economic History Review, 2nd series, vol. 10, no. 3 (1958), pp. 340–361.
Hallam, H. E., Settlement and Society: A Study of the Early Agrarian History of South Lincolnshire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1965).
Hallam, H. E., "Further Observations on the Spalding Serf Lists", The Economic History Review, 2nd series, vol. 16, no. 2 (1963), pp. 338–350.
Hallam, H. E., "The Agrarian Economy of South Lincolnshire in the Mid-Fifteenth Century", Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. 11 (1967), pp. 86–95.
Jones, E. D., "Going Round in Circles: Some New Evidence for Population in the Later Middle Ages", Journal of Medieval History, vol. 15 (1989), pp. 329–345.
Jones, E. D., "A Few Bubbles More: The Myntling Register Revisited", Journal of Medieval History, vol. 17, no. 3 (1991), pp. 263–269.
Jones, E. D., "Villein Mobility in the Later Middle Ages: the Case of Spalding Priory", Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. 36 (1992), pp. 151–166.
Jones, E. D., "The Medieval Merchet: A Late Contribution to the Debate", Medieval History, vol. 2, no. 3 (1992), pp. 26–35.
Jones, E. D., "The Medieval Leyrwite: A Historical Note on Female Fornication", English Historical Review, vol. 107 (1992), pp. 945–953.
Jones, E. D., "Research Notes: Summary Execution at Spalding Priory 1250–1500", Journal of Legal History, vol. 16, no. 2 (1995), pp. 189–198.
Jones, E. D., "Medieval Merchets as Demographic Data: Some Evidence from the Spalding Priory Estates, Lincolnshire", Continuity and Change, vol. 11, no. 3 (1996), pp. 459–470.
Jones, E. D., "Death by Document: A Re-Appraisal of Spalding Priory's Census Evidence for the 1260s", Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. 39 (1995), pp. 54–69.
Jones, E. D., "The Spalding Priory Merchet Evidence from the 1250 to the 1470s", Journal of Medieval History, vol. 24, no. 2 (1998), pp. 155–175.
Jones, E. D., "Merchet Practice on the Spalding Priory Manor of Sutton from 1253 to 1477", Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, vol. 33, (1998), pp. 79–84.
Jones, E. D., "The Exploitation of its Serfs by Spalding Priory before the Black Death", Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. 43 (1999), pp. 126–151.
Jones, E. D., "Some Spalding Priory Vagabonds of the Twelve-Sixties", Historical Research, vol. 73, no. 180 (2000), pp. 93–104.
Jones, E. D., "Spalding Priory and Its Serfs in the Fifteenth Century", Lincolnshire History and Archaeology, vol. 35 (2000), pp. 64–68.
Jones, E. D., "The Spalding Priory Operarii in the Thirteenth Century", Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol. 65 (2001), pp. 51–67.
Keats-Rohan, K. S. B., "Antecessor Noster: The Parentage of Countess Lucy Made Plain", Prosopon Newsletter, no. 2 (May 1995), pp. 1–3.
Liu, Wenxi, "Competing for Justice Beyond Law Between Croyland and Spalding, 1189–1202", Anglo-American Law Review, vol. 29, no. 1 (2000), pp. 67–96.
Mitchell, Rose, and David Crook, "The Pinchbeck Fen Map: A Fifteenth‐Century Map of the Lincolnshire Fenland", Imago Mundi, vol. 51, no. 1 (1999), pp. 40–50.
Russell, J. C., "Demographic Limitations of the Spalding Serf Lists", The Economic History Review, vol. 15, no. 1 (1962), pp. 138–144.
Smith, Richard M., "Hypothèses sur la nuptialité en Angleterre aux XIII^e–XIV^e siècles", Annales, Economies, Sociétés, Civilisations, vol. 38 (1983), pp. 107–136.
Smith, Richard M., "Demographic Developments in Rural England, 1300–1348: A Survey", in B. M. S. Campbell (ed.), Before the Black Death: Studies in the Crisis of the Early Fourteenth Century (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1991), pp. 25–78.
Sumner, Neal, "The Countess Lucy's Priory? The Early History of Spalding Priory and its Estates", Reading Medieval Studies, vol. 8 (1987), pp. 81–103.
Thirsk, Joan, Fenland Farming in the Sixteenth Century (Leicester: Leicester University Press, 1953).

v t e Monasteries in Lincolnshire
Augustinian	Boston Austin Friars Bourne Abbey Elsham Priory Grimsby Abbey Grimsby Nunnery Grimsby Austin Friars Hough Priory Hirst Priory Kyme Priory Lincoln Austin Friars Markby Priory Newstead Priory Nocton Priory Stamford Austin Friars Thornholme Priory Thornton Abbey Thwaite Priory Torksey Priory Wilsford Priory
Benedictine	Alkborough Priory Bardney Abbey Barrow Monastery Bonby Priory Boston Priory Burwell Priory Covenham Priory Croyland Abbey Deeping St James Priory Freiston Priory Haugham Priory Henes Cell Humberston Abbey Ikanho monastery Lincoln - St Mary Magdalene Priory Minting Priory North Hykeham Priory Partney Cell Repingas Monastery Sandtoft Priory Skendleby Priory Spalding Priory Stainfield Priory Stamford All Saints' College Stamford Cell in Burghley Park Stamford - St Leonard's Priory Stixwould Priory Stow Abbey Throckenholt Priory Wilsford Priory Winghale Priory
Brothers of Penitence	Lincoln Friars of the Sack Stamford Friars of the Sack
Carmelite	Boston Whitefriars Lincoln Whitefriars Stamford Whitefriars
Carthusian	Axholme Priory Haugham Priory
Cistercian	Bytham Abbey Cammeringham Priory Fosse Priory Gokewell Priory Great Limber Priory, Limber Magna Greenfield Priory Haverholme Priory Kirkstead Abbey Knaith Priory Legbourne Priory Long Bennington Priory Louth Park Abbey Nuncotham Priory Revesby Abbey Stixwould Priory Swineshead Abbey Vaudey Abbey
Crutched Friars	Whaplode Friary
Dominican	Boston Blackfriars Lincoln Blackfriars Stamford Blackfriars
Franciscan	Boston Greyfriars Grantham Greyfriars Grimsby Greyfriars Lincoln Greyfriars Stamford Greyfriars
Gilbertine	Alvingham Priory Bridge End Priory Bullington Priory Catley Priory Haverholme Priory Lincoln - St Catherine's Priory Newstead-on-Ancholme Priory North Ormsby Priory Sempringham Priory Sixhills Priory Tunstall Priory
Knights Hospitaller	Aslackby Preceptory Bottesford Preceptory Eagle Preceptory Great Limber Preceptory, Limber Magna Maltby Preceptory Skirbeck Commandery Temple Bruer Preceptory Willoughton Preceptory Witham Preceptory
Knights Templar	Aslackby Preceptory Bottesford Preceptory Eagle Preceptory Horkstow Camera Lincoln Commandery Temple Bruer Preceptory Willoughton Preceptory Witham Preceptory
Premonstratensian	Barlings Abbey Broadholme Priory Cammeringham Priory Hagnaby Abbey Newbo Abbey Newsham Abbey Orford Priory Stixwould Priory Tupholme Abbey West Ravendale Priory
Savigniac	Revesby Abbey Swineshead Abbey
Tironensian	Humberston Abbey
Independent	Partney Monastery Stamford Monastery St Æthelreda's nunnery, Stow Green Threekingham Nunnery

v t e Benedictine abbeys and priories in medieval England and Wales
Independent houses	Abbotsbury Abergavenny Abingdon Alcester Athelney Bardney Bath Battle Bedford Birkenhead Bradwell Brewood (Black Ladies) Buckfast Burton Bury St Edmunds Canterbury (Christ Church) Canterbury (St Augustine's) Canwell Cerne Chertsey Chester Cholsey Colchester Coventry Crowland Durham Ely Evesham Eynsham Farewell Priory Faversham Glastonbury Gloucester Humberston Luffield Malmesbury Milton Monk Bretton Muchelney Molycourt Norwich (Holy Trinity) Pershore Peterborough Ramsey Reading Repton Rochester St Albans St Benet of Hulme Sandwell Selby Sherborne Shrewsbury Snelshall Tavistock Tewkesbury Thorney Upholland Walden Westminster Whitby Winchcombe Winchester (New Minster) Winchester (St Swithun) Worcester York (St Mary's)
Dependent houses	Aldeby Alkborough Alcester Alvecote Beadlow Bedemans Berg Belvoir Binham Breedon Brecon Bristol Bromfield Cardiff Cardigan Cranborne Darenth Deeping Dover Dunster Earls Colne Ewenny Ewyas Harold Exeter Farne Felixstowe Finchale Freiston Great Malvern Hatfield Peverel Henes (Sandtoft) Hereford Hertford Holy Island Horton Hoxne Hurley Jarrow Kidwelly Kilpeck King's Mead Kings Lynn Lammana Langley Leominster Leonard Stanley Lincoln Little Malvern Littlemore Lytham Middlesbrough Monkwearmouth Morville Norwich (St Leonard's) Oxford (of Canterbury) Oxford (of Durham) Oxford (of Gloucester) Penwortham Pilton Redbourne Richmond Rumburgh St Bees St Ives Scilly Snaith Snape Stamford Studley (Oxfordshire) Studley (Warwickshire) Tickhill Tynemouth Wallingford Westbury-on-Trym Wetheral Wymondham Yarmouth
Alien priories	Allerton Mauleverer Andover Andwell Appuldurcombe Arundel Astley Aston Priors Atherington Avebury Axmouth Blyth Boxgrove Brimpsfield Burstall Burwell Caldy Carisbrooke Chepstow Clatford Cogges Corsham Covenham Cowick Creeting (St. Mary) Creeting (St. Olave) Debden Deerhurst Dunwich Ecclesfield Edith Weston Ellingham Everdon Eye Folkestone Frampton Goldcliff Grovebury Hamble Harmondsworth Hatfield Regis Haugham Hayling Headley Hinckley Holbeck Horsham St Faith Horsley Lancaster Lapley Lewisham Isleham Livers Ocle Llangennith Llangua Loders Minster Minster Lovell Minting Modbury Monks Kirby Monk Sherborne (Pamber) Monmouth Newent Ogbourne Otterton Panfield Pembroke Pill Ruislip Runcton St Cross St Dogmells St Michael's Mount St Neots Sele Spalding Sporle Standon Steventon Stogursey Stoke-by-Clare Stratfield Saye Swavesey Takeley Throwley Tickford Titley Toft Monks Totnes Tutbury Tywardreath Upavon Ware Wareham Warminghurst Warmington Wath Weedon Beck Weedon Lois West Mersea Wilsford Wing Winghale Wolston Wootton Wawen York (Holy Trinity)

Authority control databases
International	VIAF
National	United States

Priors

Burials

See also

References

Further reading