Farewell Priory was a Benedictine nunnery near Lichfield in Staffordshire, England. Although it received considerable episcopal support, it was always small and poor. It was dissolved in 1527 as a by-product of Cardinal Wolsey's scheme to establish a college within Oxford University.
Foundation
A religious community was founded at Farewell by Roger de Clinton,Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 110. Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry (1129 – 48). It is clear that the house was originally described as an abbey and it was originally made up of male hermits. A charter of the bishop specifies that it is a grant to canonicis fratribus,Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 111, no. 2. suggesting the community were canons regular, probably Augustinian. The locality in which they held land and could assart in the woods was named as Chirstalleia, which seems to be Chestall, now a hamlet to the east of Castle Ring and north of Cannock Wood.See Midgley, Cannock: Manors and economic history: Lesser estates, note anchors 257-67 for details. The charter also conceded rights of pannage and pasturage. A further grant affirms that it is made in response to the requests of domini Rogeri et Gaufridi et Roberti, heremitarum et fratrum de Faurwelle: Masters Roger, Walter and Robert, hermits and brothers of Farewell.Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 111, no. 1. However, the purpose of the grant is to transfer the church and their lands, together with small estates at Pipe and Hammerwich, to a community of women. Hence it seems that both the initial grant to a male hermitage and its replacement as beneficiary by a nunnery were the work of the same bishop. It is unclear whether the male community simply disappeared or continued in one or more different forms. As late as 1167 an estate at Pipe Magna was recorded by the sheriff as terra trium canonici de Pipa, "the land of the three canons of Pipe."Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 1, p. 48. Moreover, Radmore Abbey, a Cistercian house, was established a short distance away during the same period as Farewell, incorporating hermits who already lived nearby and also with the involvement of Roger de Clinton.Baugh et al. Houses of Cistercian Monks: The Abbey of Radmore, note anchors 1-2.
Order and patronage Farewell was recorded as a Benedictine priory in diocesan records and it was to Benedictine houses that the remaining nuns were transferred at its dissolution.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 1. The commission for its dissolution names it explicitly as prioratum beatae Mariae de Farewell ordinis sancti Benedicti.Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 112-3, no. 7. However, it was described as Cistercian in the bishop's register in 1425. One factor in the confusion is that Langley Priory, its daughter house in the parish of Breedon on the Hill in Leicestershire, seems to have posed as Cistercian in the 12th century in order to secure the exemptions from tithes enjoyed by Cistercian houses. This was contested by Augustinian Breedon Priory, which had appropriated Breedon parish church and thus stood to lose tithes if Langley's claim was accepted. Pope Alexander III commissioned an investigation by the Cistercian abbot of Garendon Abbey and the Augustinian prior of Kenilworth Priory,Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 221-2, no. 2. which adjudicated in favour of the nuns.Regesta Pontificum Romanorum, volume 2, p. 353. However, the nuns could not maintain their position for long and, in order to obtain exemption they were compelled in or about 1229 to hand over a toft, an acre of land and a payment of seven marks.Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 222-3, no. 5.
When licensing Farewell to acquire property in 1398, Richard II described it as being "in the king's patronage." However, this was an isolated incident. It was an episcopal foundation and the bishop of the time was central to its final dissolution.
Relations with Langley Priory Langley Priory was established with nuns drawn from Farewell, as was acknowledged in its charter of about 1180 from William de Ferrers, 3rd Earl of Derby.Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 221-2, no. 1. Farewell's claims over its daughter house became controversial and, under an agreement of about 1210Hoskins, Mckinley (eds.). House of Benedictine nuns: The priory of Langley, footnote 11. the prioress of Farewell was allowed to take part in the election of the prioress of Langley when a vacancy occurred. However, the election would go ahead even if she failed to attend or to send representatives. Other claims were withdrawn.Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 112-3, no. 5. It was also agreed that Alice de Hely, a Farewell nun at that time residing at Langley, would remain in place for five years and then return to the mother house. The dispute flared up again in subsequent decades and under a composition, embodied in a charter issued by Prioress Serena of Farewell in 1248, Langley was to pay 4 marks annually, with a penalty for non-payment of 40 shillings.Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 112-3, no. 6.
Estates
As well as conferring the church of St Mary at Farewell, with a mill and wood, Roger de Clinton's charter to the nuns gave them the land between the banks of two streams, called Chistalea and Blachesiche. Included are the labour service, tenures and homes of six families of serfs. The bishop also confirmed donations from two others: assarts and lands at Pipe, given by the bishop's chaplain, Hugh, and half a hide given by Hamminch of Hammerwich. The donation of Hamminch was to be split in two, with half held by the convent in demesne and the other half held of the church by Hamminch's heir. Walter Durdent, Roger de Clinton's successor, appended a confirmation to the charter, adding the lands and service of Alurich de Quadraria and his sons, which were valued at six shillings per annum. The grant is explicitly stated to be monialibus de Faurwelle, to the nuns of Farewell.
Henry II granted a charter to the nuns of Farewell when at Radmore, now Red Moor,Midgley, Cannock: Manors and economic history: Lesser estates, note anchor 238 south of Cannock Wood. There seem to be longer and shorter versions of the same documentBaugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, footnote 4. but both are recorded as witnessed apud Rademoram.Monasticon Anglicanum, volume 4, p. 111, nos. 3-4. The longer version, carrying this location, was included in an inspeximus of 1375: Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1374–1377, p. 182. Henry II is known to have stayed at Radmore in February 1155,Eyton, p. 6. and the charter was probably issued during this visit. The king listed a number of properties and rights he wished to confirm.
The location and foundation of the abbacie sue apud Fagerwellan in foresta mea de Chanoc: their abbey at Farewell in the royal forest of Cannock or Cannock Chase. 3 carucates of demesne land at Farewell, with the homages and mills that went with them 8 acres worth 2 shillings per annum at Farewell, the gift of Robert the reeve and Thomas his son. Marsh or moorland that could be turned into meadow. 1 carucate at Pipe assarted from the king's forest. 1 carucate at Hammerwich cum villani et franchelano nomine Hamone Vielario: with villeins and a franklin or free man named Hamon the fiddler, together with their tenancies and some pasture. The name of the franklin seems very similar to that of Hamminch, the original donor of Hammerwich, and may be him or his heir. 40 acres at Lindhurst in the king's own manor of Alrewas: an area assarted from the waste in Cannock Chase and lying along the edge of the bishop's land. This came with manorial rights, including pannage, pasturage, and access to waterways. A promise to recognise all reasonable future gifts which the priory might acquire. Release and freedom from all secular services, including a number of specified court duties and taxes.
Around 1170 Geoffrey Peche granted land and a man to cultivate it at "Morhale" as the dowry of Sara, his daughter, when she entered FarewellBaugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 8. – commonly a source of small endowments for nunneries. The Peche family were prominent in Warwickshire and the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield at the time was Richard Peche, one of two to bear that surname in the 12th century. It was the bishop who had originally given Geoffrey the land that he conveyed to Farewell.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, footnote 8.
On 3 April 1200 King John confirmed the grants enumerated by his father, Henry II.Rotuli Chartarum, p. 42-3. Once again the nunnery was referred to as abbatia, an abbey. In the same year Farewell was listed as a nunnery receiving royal alms of 40 shillings, alongside its daughter house of Langley Priory and nearby Blithbury Priory.Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 91. The pipe rolls for 1203–4 record alms of 6 marks,Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 119. double the original amount,However, the editor of the Pipe Rolls, Robert William Eyton, states this as a reduction to 2 marks in his notes: Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 2, p. 123.. Victoria County History repeated this: Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 7. to the same houses and some others. These were useful windfalls but never developed into a regular income for Farewell or the other houses.
In 1251 Henry III recognised an important exemption of Farewell by mandating the seneschal of Cannock Forest to refrain from collecting pannage dues, as these were contrary to the liberties the nuns had from his royal predecessors.Close Rolls 1251–1253, p. 12-3. There is scattered evidence from the same century that Farewell held other small estates. The transfer of a serf at Chorley from the priory to a canon of Lichfield Cathedral shows that Chorley was held by Farewell Priory.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchor 10. In 1279 the prior of the Augustinian Llanthony Priory, then in Gloucestershire, sued the prioress of Farewell for rents and services he claimed were due for a holding of two carucates and a messuage in Longdon. These included two marks and the provision of a priest to celebrate Mass in the chapel at Radmore, which the prior claimed Prioress Julia had accepted in the reign of Henry III. The claim was contested.Collections for a History of Staffordshire, volume 6, part 1, p. 94. Farewell also acquired a house in Lichfield and land at Curborough.Baugh et al. Houses of Benedictine Nuns: The Priory of Farewell, note anchors 12-13.