If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Site of Benedictine Nunnery

Full description

Earthwork site surviving in parkland and comprising a palimpsest of several periods, the main elements being:
1. Possibly a pre-monastic village lying in the valley bottom, whose site was later occupied by the monastery.
2. A monastic site, its remains comprising the precinct boundary and a fine set of fish ponds, tanks and associated buildings. The claustral buildings lie under the present farm buildings.
3. The medieval village remains on the hill top. Possibly the village was moved and laid out anew with the arrival of the monastery.
4. A post dissolution formal garden of the 17th century, presumably belonging to Tyrwhitt House, the 16th century building being on the site of the ecclesiastical buildings (see 53602).
5. A formal garden of about 1710, comprising a vista to the west and a walled garden to the east of the present truncated house (see 53602). {1}
The house of Benedictine nuns at Stainfield was founded in or before the reign of Henry II. It was suppressed in 1536 and the nuns transferred to Stixwould. {5}
The monument includes the remains of the Benedictine nunnery of Stainfield, founded in the mid 12th century and dissolved in 1536. All fences, road surfaces and standing walls and buildings are excluded from the scheduling, apart from the brick walls to the east of the hall surviving from the 17th and 18th century gardens, and the gate pier. The ground beneath the excluded features is, however, included in the scheduling. The deserted medieval village appears to have been excluded from the scheduling. For further detailed description see the revised scheduling document 22608. {10}
It is suggested that there is a relationship between Stainfield nunnery and a conjectured causeway, possibly dating as far back as the Bronze Age (54780). {13}
Archaeological monitoring and recording was undertaken during excavation for a kissing gate on land at Stainfield by Archaeological Project Services in March 2010 (54216a). A demolition deposit was revealed which was probably associated with the former priory buildings. Within this layer was late medieval brick, tile, stone quarried from Barnack and an oyster shell. {14}{15}

<01> HBMC, 1978, AM 7, SAM 330 (Scheduling Record). SLI4143.

<02> OS CARD INDEX, TF 17 SW:1,1964, HARPER F R (Index). SLI2748.

<03> D. Knowles and R.N. Hadcock, 1953, Medieval Religious Houses: England and Wales - First Edition, P219 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI902.

<04> Nikolaus Pevsner and John Harris, with Nicholas Antram, 1989, Buildings of England: Lincolnshire (Second Edition), P683 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1062.

<05> P.L. Everson, C.C. Taylor and C.J. Dunn, 1991, Change and Continuity: Rural Settlement in North-West Lincolnshire, pp175-177;Fig24,124,125 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1063.

<06> SMR FILE, TF 17 SW:D,1977, TMA (Index). SLI3289.

<07> SMR FILE, TF 17 SW:I - (Index). SLI3289.

<08> Paul Everson, 1975-90, RCHM, 2947/36,1980, (Aerial Photograph). SLI196.

<09> Paul Everson, 1975-90, RCHM, 2952/27,1980, (Aerial Photograph). SLI196.

<10> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 1996, REVISED SCHEDULING DOCUMENT 22608, MPP 23 (Scheduling Record). SLI4243.

<11> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1992-1996, National Mapping Programme, TF1173:LI.14.1-12,1994, (Map). SLI3613.

<12> 1945-84, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION, AHD42, 44; CFJ22, 24 (Aerial Photograph). SLI173.

<13> David Stocker and Paul Everson, 2003, ‘The Straight and Narrow Way: Fenland Causeways and the Conversion of the Landscape in the Witham Valley, Lincolnshire’, in The Cross Goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD300-1300, pp.271-88 (Article in Monograph). SLI8111.

<14> Archaeological Project Services, 2010, Archaeological watching brief on land at Stainfield, STNG10 (Report). SLI13462.

<15> Archaeological Project Services, 2010, Archaeological watching brief on land at Stainfield, LCNCC; 2010.21 (Archive). SLI13463.

Monument Types

• FISHPOND (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• NUNNERY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• PRIORY (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• RELIGIOUS HOUSE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Finds

• ANIMAL REMAINS (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
• BRICK (Medieval - 1200 AD to 1539 AD)
• TILE (Medieval - 1200 AD to 1539 AD)

Associated Events

• Archaeological watching brief on land at Stainfield
• Survey of earthworks in Stainfield

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument
• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Related records

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.